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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Fountains of Streams 



AND 



Public Schools 



BY 

J. HUMBERGER 

COVINGTON, OHIO 



COLUMBUS, OHIO 
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CONTENTS. 

fS ?? ;s 

PAGE. 

Preface 5 

Original Conditions at Rolling Meads 7 

Origin of Public and Sunday Schools at Fountains of 

Streams 16 

Public Schools Before the War 34 

Why has Our Country More Criminals than any Other? 49 

Sunday School Picnic 68 

Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay 87 

Immoral Character of School Teachers 121 

Young People Estranged from Religion by the Public 

Schools 135 

The Arrest, Trial and Execution of a Prominent School 

Teacher 147 

Rights of Conscience as to Morals in the Publik: 

Schools 167 

The Persecution of a Little Orphan in the Public 

Schools 218 

Our Public Schools Educate for Public Life, as Against 

Private Life 252 

Return of the Persecuted 283 

The Proper Method and Aim of True Education 316 

Conscience Requires Faithfulness and Duty 349 

True Education Blesses all People 381 

The End 430 



PREFACE. 

^ ^ ^ 

THE origin, history and progress of public schools, 
as they prevailed at different periods through- 
out the United States, and why the methods now em- 
ployea in many places should be reformed for the 
future welfare of our country, are among the subjects 
discussed in this book. 

The kind reader will be surprised to learn that 
our public schools have been strong enough to bear 
up under all the wrongs and abuses heaped upon them 
bv unprincipled men and self-interested ofificials. This 
bulwark of our liberties in the hands of the people, 
has defied all attempts to wrest it out of their control, 
to make it serve selfish, sectarian and partisan in- 
terests. 

We are well aware, that we have at present in 
many places devoted teachers, making heroic efforts 
in the right direction, who are greater heroes than 
the most renowned generals that ever conquered on 
the field of a nation's battles, who labor to purify 
these fountains that supply our streams of human Hfe 
gushing out into the sea of our future inhabitants. 
Unless they labor with diligence and devotion, to 
Durify these fountains of our country's highest hopes, 



6 Preface. 

our Republic with all its blessed institutions of lib- 
erty and freedom, will depart from us forever. 

May this book arouse the energies of its readers 
to labor for the advancement of true education in 
our favored land, for the moral, mental and bodily 
development of the whole man. Any service, though 
ever so little, ought to be welcome, when it incites 
and encourages the sentinels on the high towers of 
freedom's strongest bulwarks, to watch and work. 

J. H. 



ORIGINAL CONDITIONS AT ROLLING MEADS. 

f$ 1^ 1$ 

AT the Fountains of Streams, where their waters 
gush from the earth and flow through Rolling 
Meads, away to join their sister streams at the foot 
of the hills, until they unite with the beautiful river, 
•surrounded with green hills and fertile fields, lapped 
in the recess of a gorgeous valley, Mr. Fair Mind built 
his cottage, and brought his treasures home. 

He was one of those sturdy old pioneers, who 
not only hewed down the forests and cleared out his 
fields, planted his trees, his orchards and vineyards, 
and constructed his elegant villa ; but also made the 
proper arrangements for the instruction of his house- 
hold and the education of youth in the fear and knowl- 
edge of God. He especially devoted his energies in 
placing their feet firmly on the way of truth and life, 
and taught them to walk upon it with a firm tread. 
By his strong, sound faith in the sure mercies of his 
Redeemer, Fair Mind, like the oak to the ivy, bound 
the helpless, weak, dependent and lovely creatures 
with the cords of his kind nature, until they grew 
strong and confident in his strength, and were happy 
to surround him with the glory of their smiles. 

It was in that beautiful state, that has given to 
the world so many great statesmen and heroes re- 
nowned in war, who felt their indebtedness and were 
ever thankful for the influence of Fair Mind in form- 
ing their manly characters in the days of their youth, 



8 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

where the mighty of the land learnt their first lessons, 
and had the honor to sit at his feet. 

At the source of his streams was the source of 
his blessings ; and like the stream with its cool waters 
quenched the thirst and gladdened the creatures of 
every abode, so his daily life flowed on to satisfy 
the desires of the poor, and to rejoice the inhabitants 
of Rolling Aleads with the fullness of life that issues 
from the living Rock, and built their characters upon 
those eternal principles which alone can give true 
happiness to mortals. His friends revered hmi for 
his devotion to so holy and noble a cause, and were 
delighted to appeal to him far assistance in every diffi- 
culty, and were made free and happy in his presence. 
He solved their questions and difficulties in a clear 
and simple way, with a well balanced judgment, as 
the patriarch and guide of his people. 

He was much concerned to have them believe, 
that true happiness does not consist in the greatness 
of fame or wealth, nor in great titles in the fields of 
science and knowledge, but in a truly virtuous and 
heaven born character. The possession of such a 
character involves true happiness here, and eternal 
blessedness hereafter. Fair ^I'md was imbued with 
the teachings and principles which enabled the great 
hero, ]\Iartin Luther, to withstand and conquer the 
world, and unfurl a civilization which has turned the 
scorched desert of ignorance and barbarism into a 
fruitful field, fit for the dwelling of a new race, who 
have since become the light-bearers to all the nations 
of the earth. 



Original Conditions at Rolling Meads. 9- 

In youth, he was diHgent to observe the lessons. 
of nature spread out before him. He studied the 
nature and ways of the Httle fish that sported in his 
native streams, the flowers that grew upon their 
banks ; he loved his birthplace in the wilderness, the 
birds that filled the air with their songs, and nestled 
in the rich green foliage of the luxuriant groves of 
Rolling Meads, and the creeping things of the earth. 
Everything had charms for him, for he saw in every- 
thing around him the creative glory of the Architect 
of the imiverse. His chief delight in the days of his 
man?iood and old age, was to share in the glee and. 
happiness of childhood, for he had formed the reso- 
lution to preserve the simplicity of the child in the 
heart of the man. 

Suffice it to say, he lived in the favor of the 
good, he married and brought up children, of whom 
he need not be ashamed, he reluctantly filled the most 
arduous positions and responsibilities of life, and was- 
gathered to his fathers in a good old age; and now 
he sleeps on the green bluff that overtops the beauti- 
ful home of the children he loved, and who loved him. 
Here every spring they strew flowers on the ground,, 
and the merry bird's note is still heard in the foliage 
that shades the green lawn, the httle fish still sport 
and glide in the gurgling brook as in the days of 
yore, and the little children still prattle and play upon 
its green banks. But his well known form is seen 
no more along his accustomed paths through the lawn 
or under the trees of the grove. His voice is silent 
at the rill. He no more calls out the sweet and lovely- 



.10 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

names of children, dear to an angel's heart. His 
staff Jeans forsaken against his favorite tree, as a 
friendly token for its cool, refreshing shade. 

Yet, the impression of his great soul was left 
in the valley. His memory is greener there than 
its lawn, more luxuriant than its foliage, sweeter than 
the merry bird's song, more cheerful than the voice 
of the multitude, brighter than the flowers of ]\Iay. 
and more chaste than the lilies of the field. For his 
memory revives his precious words and the example 
of a well spent life, a life that never dies, that has 
onlv moved across the valley to the home of God, 
where the virgin lawn is never scorched by the heat 
of the sun, or ever lies under the burden of the winter 
snow ; where the foliage never withers, where the 
birds are angels, where the voices of children never 
grow weary in singing the songs of Zion, where the 
streams make glad the city of God, and where the 
honor and glory of His love never fail. The paths 
of virtue do not end in the grave, but in the power 
of an endless life. For true virtue is a plant brought 
down from heaven, and ripens its fruit in the sun- 
light of the everlasting hills. 

The spirit that once shed life and music into the 
valleys of Rolling ]\Ieads had departed. The oak 
had fallen, and the tender ivy was left disheveled on 
the ground. The father and shepherd, their counsel 
in distress, their refuge in danger was no more : and 
in the vacancy of grief the lambs of his fold stood 
.still and cried. 

Now. when his sorelv stricken children at Foun- 



Orizinal Conditions at Rollins^ Meads. 11 



'tains of Streams looked down through their tears 
into the gloomy future, a black and impenetrable 
vail of Egyptian darkness hung over them, and be- 
clouded their view and disturbed their hearts. They 
could look back and see how in their father's lifetime 
the waste, howling wilderness had suffered the inroads 
of a new race, where the farmer's log huts here and 
there dotted the forest glades, and the mighty cities 
yet to be, were but log cabins crowded together to 
protect the people against the scalping knife and the 
tomahawk, when nothing but the winding serpent 
trail of the red man's foot, beset by the panther, the 
bear and the wildcat, led from one settlement to the 
•other. They heard their voices rebounding through 
the forests, the woodman's ax, and the glorious crash 
of the monarch of the woods, who would not bow 
his proud head to leave the skies, where he and his 
brothers ruled the winds and storms of centuries, 
:and stretch his gigantic and heroic strength upon the 
ground, without a groan. They could understand 
how these old companions of the forest were no 
longer destined to rot on the ground, with the green 
h)ranches of their brave kindred stretched over the 
place of their rest, still defying the wind and the hur- 
ricane, but to serve the new inhabitants in the con- 
struction of homes and cities, bridges and barns, to 
warm them from the cold and afford material for the 
various utensils of civilized life. They could see the 
gradual progress of civil society in a savage and bar- 
h)arous land, how the bear had to give way to the 
calf, the fox for the kid, the wolf for the lamb ; the 



12 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

catamount, the wildcat, the beaver, the deer and the 
buffalo to the dog, the pig, the horse, the ox, the 
kitten, the chicken and the goose. 

Even as to the future they had their forebodings. 
They could in their imaginations see the forests all 
removed, and wondered what their children would 
do in the cold winter days for building timber and 
wood to build their fires. They spoke of their plant- 
ing new forests as they do in Europe. They imagined 
the future hills and valleys covered with stately homes 
and villages, the cities and mansions of wealth, flour- 
ishing trade and commerce, and boat loads of mer- 
chandise borne down the canals and waterways of 
the nation. They saw droves of swine, cattle and 
sheep moving slowly along for hundreds of miles 
eastward through the country, to the large city mar- 
kets. In every neighborhood at certain seasons of 
the year, they could hear the hum of the spinning 
wheel, the thumping of the tiail on the threshing 
fioor, the booming of the loom in the shop, the 
scutching of the flax, the spinning and weaving of 
home-made garments, and oh ! the dinners of potpie 
and mush, pancakes and noodle soup, corn bread and 
sausages ! They imagined the ladies would still ride 
on side-saddles to church with a whole cavalry of 
gallants ; and such things as corn huskings, log roll- 
ings, apple cuttings, quilting bees, wedding serenades 
with horse-fiddles and conch shells, and Xew Year 
shooting parties, would all, as a matter of course. 
last forever! 

Such things, however, like the wash or sewmg 



Original Conditions at Rolling Meads. 13 



"i. 



machine, the lady of the house never so much as 
dreamt of; and the mower, the reaper and binder, 
were far beyond the utmost stretch of any farmer's 
imagination. They were yet among- the impossibih- 
ties, and those were regarded as half turned, who 
earnestly thought that such things could be. How 
could they think of the steam engine, the railroad, 
the telegraph, the telephone, the phonograph, the 
electric light, the steam printing press, the magazine 
rifle, and ten thousand other inventions that had as 
yet no existence, and have now revolutionized the 
civilization of the world? They could not see them 
because they were not, and if they could be, their 
fathers would long since have had them, who were 
smarter, and better men than the people of these de- 
generate days, and therefore they sent them like air- 
castles packing to the land of fairies, fables and 
ghosts. 

Yet all these things are no longer among the 
impossibilities. They have become realities. Where- 
fore, if such wonderful invention and progress are 
possible to mere human ingenuity and patient appli- 
cation, what is not possible to Him who is the Author 
of the human mind itself? If the self-conscious mind 
has thus established its reality by its wonderful crea- 
tions, how much more must not He be real, who is 
the Author of the mind itself ? Then how much more 
must His promises be, no longer mere shadows and 
fables, but realities ? We believe and are convinced 
thev are realities ; but we can no more understand or 



14 FoiDifoins of Streams and Public Schools. 

scrutinize the nature and mechanism of their objects,, 
than the wild African can the X-rays. 

Although forsaken and deprived of their coun- 
sellor, the children of Fair Mind were not left help-^ 
less. Although bereft of their loving guide and 
teacher, he left them under the guidance of the great 
blaster. So they kept their faces turned steadfastly 
as their father directed them, toward the future lovely 
and perfect country. They could not forget his coun- 
sels, to remember their Creator in the days of their 
youth : and as the twig is bent the tree's inclined ; 
and, train up a child in the way he should go ; and 
when he is old, he will not depart from it. 

Our first aim and duty in life certainly is to 
search, and teach others to search for an eternal 
kingdom and its righteousness. And as they were 
left to the guidance of God's good Spirit, they now 
held His promises as a double voice from heaven. 
All our work and service here below, they now re- 
garded but as an expression of their own thankful- 
ness and faithfulness, for the glorious opportunity of 
being instrumental in promoting, though ever so lit- 
tle, an ever-enduring and imperishable abode. There- 
lore they learned to trust in their heavenly Guide, 
and to direct old and young to tread the^ Lord's courts, 
and to walk in his ways. 

The family of Fair jNlind now saw plainly that 
all the great and weighty responsibilities for the spir- 
itual and temporal well-being of the entire neighbor- 
hood, the school and the church, rested upon their 
shoulders. They saw the time was not to be lost, 



Original Conditions at Rolling Meads. 15- 

to buckle on the whole armor of God, and to stand 
in defense of those institutions and rights bequeathed 
unto them by their father. With might and main 
they put their shoulder to the wheel to support their 
parochial school, on whose pastures they had them- 
selves had their only opportunity of knowledge and in- 
struction. While they lived it was impossible to take 
out of the schools of that neighborhood the Bible,, 
biblical history, the catechism and the hymn book. 

Now this whole generation left by the sturdy old 
patriarch who faced the frowning savage and the 
pathless wilderness, all rest under the green sod in 
the same lap of earth. They had their joys and their 
sorrows. They established a new society in a new 
luxuriant land, upon the principles of truth and vir- 
itue, surrounding the family, the school, the church 
and the state, and left all these institutions in the 
hands of their imm.ediate successors, flourishing with 
tne prosperity of a rich and fertile soil, cultivated with 
zeal and industry. 

It was not until the second generation of our 
patriarchal ancestors that invention and scientific im- 
provements made such rapid strides as to swell our 
population and prosperity in every direction, to the 
utmost bounds of our territories. With the third and 
fourth generation already came learning and luxury, 
shoving from the stage the robust vigor, happy con- 
tentment and simple life of our patriarchal forefathers. 
And hence, wdth luxury and learning came also cor- 
ruption and every vice, which offered many oppor- 
tunities for family feuds, quarrels and battles in 
schools, churches and the state. 



ORIGIN OF PUBLIC AND SUNDAY SCHOOLS AT 
FOUNTAINS OF STREAMS. 

f$ ?$ !^ 

IT was Sunday, and the month of May. A quiet 
stillness breathed over the forest covered gorges 
and towering hills. We were ascending along a 
stream whose clear waters came dashing and splash- 
ing in fleecy clouds over its rocky bed down to the 
river at the foot of the hills. Our road crossed and 
recrossed the stream as we ascended the narrow 
gorge. Up we went, hemmed in on both sides by 
rocky and steep precipices, from which gushed, 
leaped and played innumerable fountains. At a sud- 
den bend of the gorge we unexpectedly came upon 
a golden eagle, who had taken his morning bath in 
the brook, and perched himself on a branch that 
stretched its floating sprays high across the stream. 
Unaware of our near approach, he was basking him- 
self in the warm sun and drying his pinions. We 
were so near that we had a full view of the native 
glory, grandeur and strength of that proud bird of 
hberty, whose golden feathers sweep the queenly 
baldric of the skies, and whose home is in the moun- 
tain fastnesses and rocky precipices, ^^'e jogged 
slowly and noiselessly along the road drenched by 
the morning shower. As he rolled his piercing glassy 
eye upon us, a shriek of fright echoed through the 
gorge; he spread his golden curtains to the breeze, 



Origin of Schools at Fountains of Streams. 17 

reared aloft his white-crested head, heavily flopped 
his wings and floated away like a ship in the sky. 

The air was filled with fragrance from the smil- 
ing flowers that greeted us from either side of our 
way. The forest trees were blooming. As we crept 
out of the gorge at the top of the hills, we heard the 
voices of little children in Sunday School melodies 
floating down to us over the Rolling Meads from 
the distant Fountains of Streams, and we bowed our 
heads and listened to the music. All nature and the 
everlasting hills seemed rapt with awe, and conspired 
with the voices of little children to send up their de- 
votions to the throne of God. 

The descendants of Fair Mind were officers and 
teachers in the school, thoroughly instructed and con- 
secrated with the living inspiration of the truth of 
the word of life. The lessons of the school aimed 
at the practical application of the distinctive teach- 
ings of true Christianity, as the only way to guide the 
longing soul to happiness and eternal life, to de- 
fend them against all perverted teachings, and to dis- 
tinguish the false from the true way. So this school 
became a useful nursery, where tender plants grew 
strong in the sunlight of eternal righteousness, and 
spread themselves far and wide, and propagated the 
seed strewn of God by the waters of life, to come in 
the day of the golden harvest bringing in their 
sheaves. 

It was a well ordered school under the control 
and guidance of the church and its officers. They 
had their teachers' meetings, in which they thoroughly 



18 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

discussed practical questions of the time that inti- 
mately concerned the spiritual welfare of the young 
people and the entire congregation. The pastor was 
the leading spirit and superintendent of the schools. 
The history of the Bible was analyzed in short les- 
sons in the form of simple questions and answers 
adapted to the capacities of the different classes, and 
each teacher was thoroughly drilled until he was able 
to master and teach the lesson on the following Sun- 
day. It was a delight to attend these meetings. As 
many of the members of the church as could possi- 
bly do so came to be benefited by these instructions 
in the analysis of the truth of the Word and to edify 
themselves by the Christian conduct of these devoted 
soldiers of the cross, and to hear and join in sing- 
ing the beautiful songs of Zion. 

This Sunday School in Rolling ]\Ieads was the 
natural outgrowth of the old parochial school, forced 
upon these people by the introduction of the free 
school system. There was originally, when Rolling 
Meads was first inhabited by our ancestors, and 
wdien they first built their log cabins amid the forests 
of the wiledrness, a parochial school established. It 
was the first school-house erected in this country 
for the instruction of children. It was a spacious 
log-hewn school-house, like all houses in those days, 
and served its purpose for many years. 

We can see that old school-house still, methinks, 
as when a child we roamed through its sacred pre- 
cincts, and wonderingly crept through its g-loomy 
rooms. The hornets had alreadv built their nests 



n of Schools at Fountains of Streams. 19 

undisturbed in the comb of the roof, and the swallows 
had festooned the eves with their mud abodes. It 
was then a convenient roost for owls and bats, and 
a general stamping ground for 'possums, porcupines 
and polecats. It looked ghostly on a moonlight 
night. In the field opposite the cemetery we could 
see through a window a large white oak stump, 
around which old Sally Miller declared the witches 
held their nightly revels. It was erected there as a 
monument over the grave of a suicide, who was not 
allowed a burial on consecrated ground. We are 
told he was a young man whose mother had sent 
into the woods to fetch home the cows, who to spite 
his mother hung himself with paw-paw straps to 
the limb of a tree. Some young people often went 
thither to see the witches, but these old superstitions 
have long since been exploded, for even then we 
knew that those who believed in witches were the 
witches themselves. 

One part of the old school-house served as a 
lum.ber room for shovels and mattocks to dig the 
graves, and there was a box of oats and corn in one 
corner, and hay in the loft above to feed the pastor's 
horse, that had a neat stall provided in the building. 
Not a trace of the building remains. With other 
structures of the olden time, it has passed away with 
the years. 

It was a great mistake, which those good people 
afterwards found out to their sorrow, that they suf- 
fered themselves to be persuaded to abandon their 
parochial school, and join with people of every prin- 



20 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

ciple and many without any principle or belief, in 
establishing a common school. It is true, they en- 
tered into this project with many anxious thoughts 
as to its propriety. This second school house was 
for this reason not as substantial as the first. The 
logs were not so well hewn. The object was to save 
labor and expense, for many hoped it would prove 
an unsuccessful experiment. It was situated a mile 
to the north of the old parochial school-house, in 
order to accommodate the neighborhood. Its roof 
was made of clapboards ; its benches and writing desks 
of slabs and planks. There was not a nail or piece 
of iron of any kind used in the construction of the 
entire building. Around the room they bored holes 
into the logs, into which they drove long wooden 
pegs to support a slab for writing desks. Wooden 
legs were driven into holes bored into the ends of 
slabs for benches. The door swung on wooden 
hinges. 

It stood on a rolling blufl near a brook, sur- 
rounded with deep forests on every side and thick 
paw-paw bushes. There were four large trees at the 
foot of this blufif that formed an exact square on 
the creek bottom, about three rods apart, each tree 
on the corner of the square. These trees formed 
bases for a ball game called bull-pen, for pussy-wants- 
a-corner, and another play called ailymaly. This was 
about three or four rods north of the school-house, 
and at the bottom of the bluff. At the same distance 
east of the house the little children would roll and 
slide down the sandy blufif with the greatest delight. 



Origin of Schools at Fountains of Streams. 21 

At this old school-house we had many a siege 
that lasted for weeks. The scholars barred the 
teacher or.!: shortly before New Year's day, in order 
to compel him to treat the school. This was the 
custom in those days. Our old teacher never made 
us any trouble, but immediately signed our bill of 
fare, and was let into the house to perform his duties. 
Once, however, we well remember a trick he played 
upon us. He scratched apples out of our bill and 
wrote instead potatoes, which we at first did not no- 
tice. But the good man gave us apples for all that. 
With other teachers after that the school did not 
succeed so well in this matter. The teacher was de- 
termined to break up the time honored custom. And 
real sieges for weeks at a time, and real battles was 
the consequence. The largest boys of the school 
were pitted against the teacher and directors, kept 
watch day and night in the school-house, and many 
were the bruises and slashes they received at the 
windows when they tried to break in. 

With all its drawbacks, how sad it is to think 
back on the school of those our sweetest years, spent 
in that school-house on the bluff! There the play- 
ground Hes quietly at the foot of the hill, consecrated 
by these our little playmates of the rollicking days of 
yore. Methinks, I can see them still, and call them 
all by their names. But how changed and scattered 
now, while the largest number have crossed the little 
brook, and are playing with the angels. The bare 
ground is all that is left of the spot, hallowed by many 
an infant tear. The wild wilderness has long since 



22 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

given place to cultivated fields, and every spring the 
cruel plowshare tears up the soil, once pressed by the 
tread of little feet. And now the beautiful scenes 
of the blessed days of our childhood's woodland school 
have been ravished from the earth. 

With all their imperfections, the public schools 
of that day were far better than those we have now, 
because they educated and produced a far better class 
of citizens. The instruction was more personal than 
it is now. In fact there were no large classes, except 
the spelling class. We were not taught in the mass, 
but individually. This is one great objection to the 
schools of to-day. D. F. ^^^aller, ex-State Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction and President of the 
State Teachers' Association, showed in an address 
to that body June 30, 1897, on "The Limitation of 
Organization in Education," that ''the result of or- 
ganization in all lines of business and trade, and the 
effects of the passing away of individual efifort, had 
introduced itself into the sphere of education in the 
public schools. The teacher or professor has too 
many scholars to instruct, and consequently cannot 
give individual instruction to each. And so far as 
this system has supplanted the old one of personal 
supervision, it is not a success. Formerly the teacher 
was able to give time and thought to the develop- 
ment of each scholar, but now this has changed." 

This is a testimony from a man of experience, 
and shows that it is not large, great and extensive 
range, but personality and principle that constitutes 
the main features of instruction. AMiere personal 



Origin of Schools at Fountains of Streams. 23 

influence ceases, education deteriorates. The public 
is always attracted by numbers, size and display. But 
you cannot deal with children in the bulk, as with 
cattle and corn. Too much is given the child to 
learn, which ought to be reserved for maturer years, 
for it only tends to hamper and retard his progress 
in the fundamental branches. Too much food found- 
ers the horse, and too many studies pamper and 
weaken the mind. For this purpose, among the offi.- 
cers of our public schools, there .prevails almost 
everywhere a corrupt and selfish use of our school 
funds. Publishers of new school books bribe su- 
perintendents and principals of schools to accomplish 
this design. 

Scarcely have children become accustomed to 
old and tried school books, to learn to treasure them 
up as friendly guide posts on the way of knowledge, 
as did their parents before them, when new school 
books are introduced with such indifference to the 
old and tried, that it awakens the suspicion of parents 
and children, that their introduction is simply to serve 
the interests and convenience of teachers instead of 
scholars. Especially when they know, which is very 
often the case, that the new books are not near as 
good to promote their rapid progress, as the old 
ones. The object then proves to be, to retard the 
student's progress, on the plea of thoroughness. But 
this proves to be such a thoroughness that never gets 
through. These nevv^ books pile up so much useless 
material under each department of certain branches 
of study, that the chief rules and principles that un- 



24 Foimtains of Streams and Public Schools. . 

derlie the logical progression of any particular study, 
are not made prominent and set forth in bold relief 
before the student's mind as they should be, but are 
explained out of sight, by adding explanation on ex- 
planation. It is impossible for the child, or even the 
teachers themselves for that matter, if they were to 
live as old as ]Methusalah, to learn and become ac- 
quainted with all the material that could be strung 
up under each department of every branch of study. 
The object of the common school should be, to give 
the child a practical education for all the realities and 
duties of life, a foundation upon which it may se- 
curely advance in any pursuit or calling for a liveli- 
hood. 

The accumulation of many school books retards 
progress, so that the scholar is discouraged, and 
nothing is thoroughly learnt. Arithmetic has become 
so attenuated, it is like the town that cannot be seen 
for the houses. Formerly a good student could easily 
and thoroughly study all the departments in arith- 
metic in one winter, and were more thorough at the 
end of the three months in arithmetic, than three- 
fourths of the teachers of our day. AA'e write this 
from actual experience. So in geography, there is 
a great deal more taught than is necessary, which 
neither child nor man can remember, and must after- 
wards be referred to at any rate in reading history. 
Besides limits and natural conditions of territories 
are changing all the time. Therefore the main fea- 
tures are all that should be taught. In grammar it 
is the same wav. It is not necessarv for a child to 



Origin of Schools at Fountains of Streams. 25 

learn all about every noun in the language, before 
passing on to the other constituent parts of speech, 
and the art of construction. 

And why burden the youthful mind with so many 
branches of study, like physiology, botany, general 
history, and such branches that require a riper age 
and experience properly to understand, as well as 
a complete course through the common branches, 
reading, writing, spelling, grammar and arithmetic? 
When they have once mastered these fundamental 
branches, they can soon by reading master these his- 
torical branches without a teacher, at their leisure. 
This is not only overburdening the youthful 
mind, but is a gross perversion of the natural 
order for its advancement. You must begin at 
the bottom of the ladder to go up, and not at the top. 
No wonder so little progress is made with all the 
show and appearance displayed in public demon- 
strations and graduations, which can easily be ac- 
compHshed before the ignorant, who are ready to 
gaze with astonishment at the great success of the 
public school. 

To accomplish the introduction of various school 
books as often as possible, at an enormous expense, 
it is to the interests of publishers and officials in high 
places to see to it that no truly educated men be 
elected on the school boards, for then they could not 
have their own way. They prefer the uneducated, 
the ignorant blacksmith, bricklayer and stonemason, 
saloon keeper and carpenter, to educated men, min- 
isters of the Gospel, educated physicians and attor- 



26 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

neys. We very seldom find educated men on school 
boards. Just the other day an educated Frenchman, 
lecturing through our cities and villages and study- 
ing our systems, expressed his. surprise at this fact 
in our American system of education. It is a proof, 
however, that superintendents can prevail over the 
ignorant for the purpose of obtaining the funds. 
They think that when they go through the regular 
routine of lessons every day they have fulfilled their 
task and duty, whether any progress is made by 
their scholars or not. 

Xo wonder children languish and grow weary 
and sick over this cramming process. The mind 
feels itself overburdened, and naturally becomes weary 
of its load. To keep the mind in a healthy state, 
strong and vigorous, practical and logical common 
sense must be kept constantly in view in the instruc- 
tion of youth. Whatever" is not practical the child 
concludes is useless, and when forced upon it becomes 
extremely grievous. The mind becomes irritated, or 
droops and desponds. The child wants to know the 
why and wherefore of his studies, and the teacher who 
cannot or refuses to satisfy this longing and grasp- 
ing faculty of reason, ought to resign his office at 
once. As soon as the child knows how and whither, 
why and wherefore all these studies, its mind rallies, 
becomes strong and cheerful, and masters its lessons 
with delight. The minds of children are naturally 
inquisitive, and often ask questions which the wisest 
heads cannot answer. 

By overloading and cramming the memory does 



Origin of Schools at Fountains of Streams. 27 

not strengthen it. It can only exercise its greatest 
powers when led and assisted by the reasoning facul- 
ties, judgment and understanding. When you can 
not convince youth of the practical benefit of their 
studies, their time would be m.uch better employed at 
play, than to load them down with useless burdens. 
In public school rooms we have often met with chil- 
dren looking sad, drooping and disconsolate. x\t 
their play they move quietly, timidly and weakly, 
lacking the natural life and cheerfulness of children. 
They look as thoug-h some dreadful fate was hanging 
over them. They have been straining their minds 
to the utmost tension trying to force nature, to con- 
vert rubbish and trash into matters of the highest im- 
portance in their appreciation, and the consequence 
is, they lost the rudder of their minds and go to an 
insane assylum for life. We enter another school, 
where the mind is kept free in the exercise of all its 
God-given faculties, to pursue their studies that have 
been arranged according to the logical ladder of cause 
and effect, arriving at -the practical and immensely 
benficial every way, and we meet children sparkling 
with cheer and brilliant wit. We see some have 
taken hold of the ladder and are making brave strides 
forward and upward in all their studies. Why not 
let them go ? Why hedge them in by the narrow con- 
fines of a class? Why bring them back to load them 
with useless burdens ? A healthy mind exercises a 
cheerful and wholesome influence upon the body. 
Why are they so full of life, gladness and cheerful- 
ness ? Because they know their way is clear, and 



28 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

is not blocked up, and forced into by-paths that lead 
no-whither. 

All good and conscientious instructors are well 
aware of this abnormal method of instruction in our 
public schools. But they are in the small minority 
and would lose their position if they would energet- 
ically protest against it. No wonder our country is 
deluged with lives that have been wrecked by dis- 
appointment, under the manipulation of a system of 
eudcation that dogs the mind to death. 

Besides personal instruction, personal habits and 
conduct constituted the chief feature of the schools of 
the olden time. Whereas, nowadays, it constitutes 
no feature at all. Good morals used to be taught by 
precept and example. The Bible was still the great 
book of instruction. Otherwise our fathers would 
never have entered into such a project as that log 
school-house on the bluf¥. The rod was not spared, 
and the child was not spoiled, as it generally is now 
as soon as you send it to the public schools. There 
it breathes at once for the first time the wild atmos- 
phere of moral indifference and licentiousness, throws 
oi¥ all constraint, becomes its own boss, and on ac- 
count of the efifeminate discipline of the schools, and 
in spite of the good and robust training they have 
at home, to be Hke the other children, they do as 
they please. 

Thomas S Grimke, a graudate of Yale and an 
eminent lawyer and classical scholar, and a warm 
friend of our public schools, said: *T proceed to de- 
signate what I regard as the prominent objectionable 



Origin of Schools at Fountains of Streams. 29 

feature of our existing systems of education. They 
are not as they should be, decidedly religious. Re- 
ligion is no part of our plans of daily instruction. 
The Scriptures as a branch of education, are no- 
where uniformly and steadily taught, as languages 
and mathematics are. If the Bible be used as a school 
reading book, or a few verses be committed to mem- 
ory, still it is not made the subject of daily instruc- 
tion. I speak of the fact, that the religion of the 
Bible is not a permanent, substantial part of educa- 
tion among us. The system is then undoubtedly an 
Mw-Christian, even if it be not an an^f-Christian scheme. 
"It is granted on all hands, that religion is the 
highest interest of man; that it is the cement of 
society and the foundation of government. It is also 
granted that nothing can fill its place, and that arts 
and science, learning and eloquence, genius and taste 
are of little value without it. It is granted, that the 
great majority who come out of our public schools 
and colleges, learn nothing in them of religion. How 
wrong is it then in a country where the people are 
free, and are controlled only by the voluntary con- 
straints they lay upon themselves. It is granted by 
every intelligent man, that religion is the chief safe- 
guard of American institutions ; that none but a reli- 
gious people can remain free; and yet, the Christian 
religion, emphatically the religion of the people; is 
not made a part of the scheme of general education. 
I cannot but regard this as a great calamity to the 
country; and it becomes well the people of the United 
States to consider whether they are not guilty of a 



30 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

striking dereliction of duty to their posterity, by thus 
exchiding rehgion from their daily course of instruc- 
tion." 

Hear also what J. G. Baird, of the Connecticut 
Board of Education has to say on this subject: ''The 
right moral training of a child is even more important 
than the culture of the intellect, and common schools 
cannot safely omit all such training. Nor can it 
wisely be remitted to other tiiues and places, for the 
principles of honesty, virtue, truthfulness and mor- 
ality are for constant daily use." 

The common schools of old, like the one on the 
bluff, were at first supported by voluntary contribu- 
tions, and were not under state supervision. The 
teacher who wanted the school had to go through 
the district and gather its scholars by subscription. 
But gradually, more and more and little by little, 
the state assumed control, until it has developed the 
present system. And it is wonderful how the world- 
liness of lawyers generally stamps that character upon 
all their laws, which are to control the methods of 
education in the public schools. It is nothing but 
world, world, world, the flesh and the devil ; as though 
there were no such thing as decency and decorum, 
death and destruction. As a result, we now have 
a restless spirit, a reckless ambition to excel in wan- 
tonness, youthful indiscretion and rascality, without 
the fear of God or man, among our public school chil- 
dren to-day, except those who are strictly kept in 
Christian discipline at home, and corrected against 
the immoral character and habits of the school. 



Origin of Schools at Fountains of Streams. 31 

This condition of affairs in the common schools 
gradually caused the necessity of the Sunday School 
in Rolling Meads, to afford the children an opportu- 
nity of obtaining the proper food for the growth and 
strong development of their moral and spiritual na- 
tures, the higher faculties of our human capacities, 
as an antidote against the air bubbles of mere in- 
tellectual inflation. Our public schools are altogether 
controlled and run on the principle that crams the 
mind with knowledge, and leaves the heart empty ; 
as though to knozv was the only faculty of immortal 
souls, as though our children were all begotten of 
Polyphemus, and had but one eye in the middle of 
their forehead ; and that the public schools had ac- 
complished their entire mission, when they have so 
trained and educated that eye, that it may be able 
continually to have a close watch on the ''Monroe 
Doctrine," the rock at the mouth of the cave that 
keeps out the Greeks, and then shout : ho ! what big 
fellows we are ! What we do know ! How enlight- 
ened ! We have the goddess of liberty who en- 
lightens the world, if it comes into New York harbor ! 
They become big like the Cyclops in their imagina- 
tion, who dashed out the brains of two of the Greeks 
on the rocky floor of his cave, and then gobbled them 
into his hands and ate them up as you would a smoked 
herring, and then washed them down with two pails 
full of milk. Thus they will serve the nations of the 
earth. This is big, big, young America ! standing 
on the threshold of the public schools and waving 
old glory over the whole world ! 



32 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

Our public schools are made hot-beds of am- 
bition, and the minds of our children are steeped 
into a seething whirlpool of ambitious desires, to be 
gratified with public life, with politics and official 
stations. For this reason secret societies and unions 
spring up like mushrooms all over the land, flaunt- 
ing the colors of official dignity, because they pander 
to this vicious taste and ambition for titles. In this 
giddy whirlpool all their humble virtue and tender 
sympathy for kindred ties, for the private social life 
of home and its sweet influences, is scorched out of 
them. No wonder they become communists, dis- 
satisfied with the present order of civil society. 

This education is abortive. It produces mon- 
sters of cruelty and wickedness. It is a perversion 
and a delusion, and instead of an education, it is a 
degradation. Because its object is high public life 
and ambitious titles, instead of bringing up children 
as good, obedient and happy members of the home 
circle and private life. All this is not only ignored, 
but the child is filled with disgust for private life, 
and a desire to tear away from its sweet influences. 
The relations of home and its sacred precincts are 
held in scorn, and the tender affections for its ties 
are made the subject of mockery, and torn out by 
the roots. 

An education that has not for its main object to 
strengthen that barrier which God and nature has 
thrown aroud our homes, to protect them in their 
holy and appointed purposes, is like a wandering star, 
without aim and without hope. It may glimmer for 



Origin of Schools at Fountains of Streams. 33 

a while like a will-o-the-wisp, or the meteors of an 
exploded satellite, and fill all the heavens with its 
glare, only to disappear in darkness and gloom. An 
education which is a warfare against the home and 
its sacred ties, is inhuman, and makes man worse 
than the beasts of the field. 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS BEFORE THE WAR. 

fS ^ ^ 

"HP O school! To school!" rang out along the road 
1 to the new and commodious school house north 
of Rolling Meads. This was a frame building, put 
up at the large public highway, called the "big road," 
leading to the county seat, situated a mile northeast 
of where the old one stood on the blufif. The log 
cabin was abandoned, and with it the solid virtues 
of the old time pioneers. This frame building was 
erected long before the great civil war. 

Great changes have taken place since then. This 
frame building too served its day and disappeared, and 
now, a mile still farther east stands the new brick 
school house. The school houses in this part of the 
country with their towers and bells, look at present 
more like temples built on every hill, in comparison to 
the humble huts of the olden time, and bear witness, not 
only to the spirit of progress that animates all the de- 
partments of our gOA^ernment, but especially to its 
great liberality in the expenditure of enormous sums 
for popular education. In this respect the United 
States exceeds that of any nation the world has ever 
seen. 

''Well Frank, how do you think we'll like our nejy 
teacher?" said a muscular and strapping youth by 
the name of Ben Wauthen. "To say the least, Ben, 
I don't think he'll suit us. Because he is altoo-ether a 



Public Schools Before the War. 35 

stranger to us, and is not used to the way we have been 
taught before. And he will of course bring in ways of 
his own, new to us. Now you know that will cause 
trouble. If any change is to be made, it would be 
much better for our old teachers to do that, for then 
it would not cause offense. But it won't do for a new 
man and a stranger to come here and try to run down 
our school and old teachers, and say they didn't know 
anything. I think the directors were crazy, to hire 
a foreigner, when we have good teachers at home. 
They just v/ant something to create a sensation, and 
don't you forgt it, the sensation will be bigger than 
they'll want it. They'll soon get enough of this 
teacher, long before the sensation dies out, I fear." 

''Well, but don't you know, Frank," replied Ben, 
"it may be a good thing to change teachers sometimes ? 
They say that a change of pasture makes fat calves. 
Anyway, there may be a change for the better, and 
we may learn more by it." 

"Well," said Frank, "as for fat calves, that might 
strike you, but I think, after all, it depends on the 
pasture. If you change their pasture from good to 
bad, the calves will not get fat, and that is just what 
they are doing in this case. I think they ought to leave 
good enough alone." 

"How do you know it will not be better? This 
teacher is certainly a smart man, and they all claim 
he has a better education, than any teacher we ever 
had." "Ben, don't you know that smartness and a 
fine education do not of themselves make a good 
school teacher ? He may be a scamp for all that, with- 



36 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

out the proper tact to teach even what he knows. 
To change teachers, as I said, will make more or less 
trouble every time. The longer we can keep a good 
teacher, the better it will be for our school. An old 
teacher is acquainted with all the scholars, and knows 
exactly how to treat everyone, and a stranger has that 
first to learn. And he will have to teach a term or 
two to find that out. And this will cause trouble, 
especially if he is a man of fiery temper, like this 
teacher, and has no patience with his scholars." 

"Just that is the right thing to bring new life into 
the school. Our old teachers were too sleepy. I like 
to see a teacher hustle himself, and make things lively. 
Even his new plans and studies may do us good," said 
Ben. ''Well," Frank said, ''there is one thing neces- 
sary for a good school teacher before all others, and 
that is a good moral character. i\nd from the little 
we know of this teacher, he has not got that. Be- 
cause, in the first place he is an infidel. He is too 
fresh in making fun of the Bible. I heard him try 
his smartness on making parodies on some of our best 
hymns, and made them ridiculous. I don't care how 
fine an education he has, an infidel has no business to 
teach his infidelity to children. Which an infidel can- 
not avoid, for children always love to imitate their 
teacher's ways and sayings, and pattern after him." 

"'Shaw, Frank, what has that to do with it? 
This is a free country, and every one can believe as he 
pleases. Besides, you cannot put an old head on 
young shoulders. Young people must have their fun, 



Public Schools Before the War. 37 

and you must give them a chance to sow their wild 
oats." 

Frank. 'That will do for you to say. But I take 
no stock in infidels, I tell you that. They are no good 
to themselves or to anybody else. They do bad work 
right along. We have heard about this teacher al- 
ready, how he was in Hebron the other week in a 
saloon, where he joined in with the worst rowdies of 
the town in gambling for the drinks. And as is usu- 
ally the case, he kept on until he had more than he 
could carry. He got drunk and kicked up 'harry cain,' 
and begun to fight, like the bully he is, and licked three 
or four of them. You can see the blue marks on his 
face yet. Just wait, you'll get enough of him. What 
will become of us and our school, if we pattern after 
such a bully like this ?" 

Ben. ''Well, we have sense enough to pattern 
after his virtues and not after his vices. Besides, a 
person should not take everything for granted what 
he hears reported. You know it is always made worse 
than it is. Bad reports always grow bigger, like rivers 
that run to the sea. And suppose it be true, in that 
case, we should make the best we can out of a bad 
job. The directors have hired him now, and if we do 
not do our duty to him, we will only have ourselves 
to blame if things don't go right." 

Frank. "I will tell you how that is. I take no 
stock in the virtues of an infidel. They are the worst 
deception. For they have their roots in the evil of 
his vices. They are like the flowers that grow in the 
middle of a deep miry bog. If you try to get the 



38 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

flowers, you will sink fathoms deep into the mud before 
you get half way to where the flowers are, and you'll 
perish forever. You cannot make anything useful 
out of such a bog. It is of no earthly account. The 
space it occupies is dangerous. The only right thing 
to do is to destroy the bog, and get it out of danger's 
way." 

Thus days and weeks passed on, and as was ex- 
pected, new rules and methods were introduced. The 
first rule that had a disastrous effect, was his forbidding 
the children to whisper during school hours. This 
was also forbidden by former teachers, with the ex- 
ception, when the scholars wanted to consult each 
other about their lessons, to assist each other in that 
way, was allowed. But this teacher would not allow 
this exception to the rule. He would fly like a pan- 
ther at a child, boy or girl, if he caught them whisper- 
ing, grab them by their little arms and fling them up 
into the air, catch them by the heels and open the door 
holding them up that way, threatening to let them 
fall on their heads and break their necks. Thus he 
held the children in continual fear. He would take the 
larger boys by their coat collar and jerk them out of 
their seats without saying a word, when he caught 
them whispering, and flail them with a hickory club. 
One young man he threatened to "cut in two" with 
the fire shovel. But the young man was too large for 
him to handle in his usual way, and told him if he 
wanted to try his luck at that, he should just come with 
him out doors, and picked up his books and went out. 



Public Schools Before the War. 39 

But the teacher did not follow, and the young man 
went home. 

Next he mtroduced a debating school, to which 
he invited all parents and grown people of the district 
to take part. At the very first debate they had, he 
raised a storm. When some good debater got the 
better of him, he would cover him with personal abuse. 
He became so enraged, he pulled off his coat and vest, 
tied his handkerchief about his loins, and made ready 
for fight. As it happened, a way it sometimes has, 
there were giants in those days living in that district, 
and one was present at that debate. I have often ob- 
served this freak of nature, that men of huge build are 
of a magnanimous temper, slow to anger, and of a 
playful disposition. So it was here. When the teacher 
threatened to whip the whole crowd, this giant, though 
quite a young man, slyly creeps through the crowd 
and gets behind the teacher unawares, picks him up 
like a toy and carries him over his head and the crowd 
in his strong arms, out of the school house, down into 
the woods, and throws him with all his strength into 
a huge brush pile that covered a quarter of an acre, 
and left him there in the dark night, to get out as best 
he could. That was the end of the debating school, 
the climax of graduation. 

Such conduct soon brought the great majority 
of the district against him. Of course the directors 
who hired him, clung to him as long as they could. 
But his school soon dwindled down to a very little 
flock. Rough as he was, he had his admirers. It 
matters not how bad a character is, he will always find 



40 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

defenders, and friends even among the choicest class 
of society. Yet, a person would think it scarcely 
possible that such a low bestial character as this 
could succeed in winning the affections of the most 
talented lady of the school. He would escort her home 
at least once a week, and sometimes others who were 
rivals for her place, or her tormentors either one. 
Love kindled by the passions, especialy envy and 
jealousy, becomes a blind fury and desperate. 

This teacher, Solomon Dempsy, lacked both, dis- 
cretion and judgment. He promised to marry the girl 
of his attentions. She was the daughter of one of the 
directors, who belonged to the same lodge the teacher 
did. This already formed a bond between them, which 
created confidence and afforded him opportunities to 
take more privileges with this family, than would 
otherwise have been tolerated. As his school drew lo 
a close, however, this family began to mistrust that 
something was wrong-. They saw that the teacher was 
slack in fulfilling his promise, which should be made 
good as soon as possible. For he might after all be 
playing off, and could easily leave the country and go 
where he came from, and thus leave their daughter 
and the family disgraced. 

"Hello!" cried Ben Wauthen one morning as he 
was walking with his neighbor Frank Grail to school. 
He saw Becky Wirick just turning the corner of the 
big road some distance ahead of them. When she 
heard his voice, she stood still and waited until the two 
came up. "Becky, what's the matter with you this 
morning? Why are you playing and making tracks 



Public Schools Before the War. 41 

around here in the snow ? Why don't you go on to 
school?" "Well," said she, ''I hardly think it worth 
while. I guess we can just as well go back home. 
Have you not heard the news ?" ''Why, no ; what is 
it?" asked Ben. "Why Sol Dempsy is arrested. Pete 
Amsler sent the constable after him this morning, and 
is going to make him marry his Jane." 

"What did I tell you," said Frank to Ben. "And 
now mind what I say, she was not the only one that 
got struck after him. It stands to reason, when girls 
want to outshine and stand higher than others, they 
get all in a flutter and try their best to catch the biggest 
fish in the puddle, and they cannot all catch him. They 
think they are doing great shucks, when they run after 
and smile on every kite that puts on airs. They can't 
see their folly until it is too late. Then they are sorry. 
It is a lesson that lasts for a life time." 

Ben: "Oh, Frank, you are always making the 
worst out of a bad job. Of course, I am willing to ad- 
mit that you was right for once. Our teacher has made 
himself a burning shame, a blot and disgrace to society 
and the country. I am ready to do all I can to bring 
the scamp to justice. I am going to the trial, some 
of us may be needed there. Are you going along 
Frank?" 

Frank: "No, I am not. I am going home to 
mind my own business. They may see how they get 
through with it. It is an affair of their own." 

Ben : "It will be a good thing to hear them petti- 
foggers. It will be a treat to us." "Well," replied 
Becky, "it will be no more than they deserve, if the 



42 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

lawyers make them pay for their folly. They say that 
one fool pities the other. I hope the lesson may bring 
them to their senses." 

"But," said Frank Grail, "such a thing can scarcely 
be expected from such proud and haughty people, 
especially infidels. I rather suspect, the next thing 
we hear will be something desperate. I do not look 
for any good to come out of it. He is a man who is 
very strong headed, and bound to have his own way, 
and too proud humbly to bear this public disgrace 
thus forced upon him. I think his love for the girl, 
if he ever had any, will by these acts turn into disgust, 
as the natural result of exposure." 

A group of children had gathered about them by 
this time, and were listening intently to the news. 
They by common consent concluded there w^ould be 
no school that day, and returned home. A few schol- 
ars who came to the school house from other direc- 
tions that morning, when they heard the news, clapped 
their hands and cried : ''Good for him ! Xow we'll get 
a better teacher!" 

It proved to be a more lengthy trial than expected. 
He stubbornly refused to concede to the demands of 
the family one way or other. He contended there was 
no engagement, and no necessity for such haste. His 
lawyers and two of the directors belonged to the same 
lodge, so he comforted himself that he was on the safe 
side. But he had greatly offended the entire commu- 
nity, and it took all his friends could do to hold them 
in check. After his friends had proposed many 
schejiies to release him from his complication, and all 



Public Schools Before the War. 43 

proved of no avail, the only course left to them was to 
persuade the teacher to marry the girl, and thus end the 
controversy. They assured him, that would throw all 
the expenses of the trial on the other side, and would 
turn the minds of the people in his favor. They con- 
cluded there was but one other way to escape the 
prosecution, and that was like a coward to leave the 
country. So he agreed, and married the girl. 

The next week he began to teach again, but had 
only a few scholars. Had it not been for his staunch 
friends and two directors, he would have been obliged 
to give up his school. But before his school came 
to an end, his wife took sick and died. He was chief 
mourner at the funeral. But the suddenness of her 
death under the circumstances created suspicion, 
especially among the physicians, who could not agree 
as to the cause of her death. So an examination was 
held over the remains, which proved that she died 
by poison. Of course, it could not be proven whether 
it was administered by herself or some one else. But 
while the matter was being investigated, it was ascer- 
tained that Sol Dempsy had purchased the same kind 
of poison found in her stomach from a drug store in 
the neighborhood. This was enough to arouse the 
suspicion that he had something to do with it, or 
he would naturally have told all he knew about the 
poison as soon as they discovered it in her stomach. 
This, however, was no proof of guilt. He made a 
plausible excuse for purchasing the poison, and hav- 
ing admitted the fact, made the impression that she 
might have taken it by accident, or intentionally. 



44 Fountains of Streams and Puhlic Schools. 

Yet, suspicion grew stronger every day. Many be- 
lieved him guilty of murder, and the feeling of ani- 
mosity became so great, that he closed his school, 
settled up his accounts and left the country. The 
people felt hurt, when they shortly afterwards dis- 
covered that other lady students were taught and 
served by too m.any kind attentions of their teacher. 
They found him out when too late. Let every lady 
look first to her own virtue, friends or no friends. 

One morning Ben Wauthen, meeting his neigh- 
bor Frank Grail, as both were on their way to the 
village, Fountains of Streams. Ben began in a very 
solemn tone, which was a way Ben sometimes had, 
''You was right all the time, Frank, and I was wrong, 
as well as all the rest of us. I wonder what is going 
to become of the world yet when such men and 
such doings are tolerated and defended in our schools ! 
Our school board have manifested little sense in al- 
lowing such things." 

Frank : "Yes, but don't you know that most 
of the men on our school boards are incompetent? 
They are not able to examine a man to find out 
whether he will make a good teacher or not. They 
knew well enough that a teacher ought to have a 
good moral character. But when a stranger comes 
along they are too modest and cowardly to inquire 
after his antecedents, or to demand a certificate of 
recommendation. Nor have they ever the bravery 
to inquire especially into his own personal motives 
and principles, by which he is bound to determine 
his conduct. Now it is the dutv or should be made 



Public Schools Before the War. 45 

the duty of every district board of directors to do this, 
and not trust themselves wholly and implicitly to the 
board of county examiners. School district boards 
should know that they have the first right to decide 
who is to teach their school. As long as we elect 
simple and ignorant men on our school boards in- 
stead of truly educated Christian men, we are liable 
to have scamps to teach our schools." 

Ben : ''Well, I take it, that any man who ridi- 
cules the authority of the Bible, also ridicules and 
is ready to root out the laws that govern society. He 
is an enemy to civil order, which has its source in 
the Bible. He is a pest to all good society." 

Frank: ''I agree with you there. The Bible is 
the source of all our laws on civil righteousness. 
The laws of our civil society are given us in the Bible, 
and have been adopted into the laws of the country. 
And for this reason, every officer of the state takes 
his oath on the Bible, pledging himself to administer 
his office according to its instructions as to his official 
duties. If he takes the oath of office and does not 
believe in the authority of the Bible as the correct 
standard of life and morals, he perjures himself, and 
ought to be punished for perjury against his country. 
For perjury in office is the germ of highest treason. 
For this reason, an infidel should not be admitted 
to an office of state, because he will regard the oath 
as an empty ceremony, without anv binding force. 
For the oath requires the infidel to perform the duties 
of his office as they are prescribed in the civil and 
moral law of the state, founded on the Bible. All 



46 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

which he loathes, spurns and rejects. So his influ- 
ence is not only against the Bible, but also against 
the state." 

Ben : "That is as clear to me now as daylight. 
It is enough, when our country tolerates infidels, 
and protects them in our civil rights, although they 
be enemies of these rights. But when they begin to 
tear up these civil rights, laws and ties of human 
society, they ought to be punished, by depriving 
them of the power to carry out their evil purposes. 
For if you thus destroy society, what will become of 
the state? It will die a natural death." 

Frank : ''An infidel holds that the laws of our 
Christian civilization are no more binding than the 
laws of the heathen. He observes them only so far 
as he is compelled to it. His law is, that might is 
right." 

Ben : ''Since the Bible's teachings and princi- 
ples are the same as the laws of the state on civil 
righteousness, then the Bible, being the source of all 
our civil laws, ought to be the first book in our pub- 
lic schools, and taught as the foundation of that 
education which the state requires to make good 
citizens." 

Frank : "The Bible ought to be taught in the 
schools as our only authority on ancient history and 
the origin of the human race. It ought to be there 
as a book of reference and supreme authoritv on 
civil morals and righteousness. Its master pieces of 
composition ought to constitute a high class reader, 
to learn eloquence and rhetoric. The histors' and 



Public Schools Before the War. 47 

stories of the Bible ought to form another book to 
instruct young classes. The teachings of the Bible 
on morality as imbedded in the laws of the state, 
ought to form the first books in the hands of all 
scholars at all times, and these text books ought to 
be arranged for high and low classes. They ought 
to be simplified and brought down to the compre- 
hension of children. They ought to be composed 
in the form of proverbs or rhyming couplets, so the 
child can more easily retain them in the memory. 
This would have a most powerful influence in form- 
ing their character. Let me furnish the proverbs and 
songs of a nation, and they will rule the people more 
powerful than its laws. For how little do our peo- 
ple know of their country's laws? For all the above 
purposes the whole Bible could be used, but it is 
rather too bulky for a class book, or when small, 
the print would be too fine and hard on the eyes." 

Ben : "There is no wonder that so many of 
all the surrounding country are sending their chil- 
dren to the schools at Fountains of Streams. You 
were right, when you said you had no confidence in 
an infidel. Such learned and unprincipled sharks 
corrupt the whole country. There was Lew Bower, 
who taught in district No. 5, and fooled several girls 
m the same way, and as soon as his school was out, 
left to carry on his work in some other state. And 
the newspapers tell us, that such things are taking 
place very frequently over all the states. Besides, 
these scoundrels generally belong to some lodge, who 
are bound to help them along in their villainy. These 



48 Fountains of Streams and Public .Schools. 

dandy teachers take young silly girls to some polit- 
ical ball and have a high time. We must unite to 
drive these pests out of the neighborhood.'' 

Frank : "I agree with you there. Such doings 
in the public district schools are going to build up 
the schools at Fountains of Streams. They are all 
required to read and teach the Bible there in the 
schools. And the first lessons children learn there 
are how to behave, how to conduct themselves in 
school, how they should show kindness and love 
to each other, love and obey their parents and su- 
periors. And these are also the first lessons the pub- 
lic schools ignore, and foster not only an indifference 
to the social laws of Christian honor and respect, 
but the spirit there is to hold them in little esteem, 
and even to sm.ile with a sneer of contempt every 
time some one happens to refer to them. Thus pub- 
lic schools are perverted to make bad citizens instead 
of good ones." 



WHY HAS OUR COUNTRY MORE CRIMINALS 
THAN ANY OTHER? 

fS ;^ fS 

AT Rolling Meads the Sunday School Associa- 
tion held regular discussions, presented in a 
clear and vigorous style, concerning the very life and 
happiness of our young people, and the future des- 
tiny of the country. These discussions contain so 
many practical topics going to the root of matters 
involved in the education of youth, and treat on 
subjects that should be more generally known, es- 
pecially by those who are appointed to guide the 
political as well as the spiritual destinies of a great 
people. Whether or not, in fanning these discus- 
sions to renewed life, our zeal and judgment prove 
a benefit to the rising generation, the fond reader 
who studies these pages with the same devotion to 
this noble cause of civilized humanity, will judge for 
himself. 

Among these discussions worthy of note, we first 
give an essay read by Firm Mind, oldest son of Fair 
Mind, who was appointed to prepare a paper for the 
association at Rolling Meads, on "The Influence of 
the Public School System in Forming the Habits of 
Children and Youth." This was an important sub- 
ject. For on the shoulders of our children rest the 
future destinies of our great republic. But the still 
more important and eternal destinies of their im- 



50 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

mortal souls was also involved in the question. Firm 
Mind was appointed on this subject, because, as a 
physician, who daily comes in contact with the im- 
moralities and crimes of his patients, was thus from 
experience, more able than any one else to give the 
desired information. For this purpose he was to 
have free access to the records of the society and the 
Sunday School library, and to consult the judgments 
of the most consistent and enHghtened teachers and 
educators, and what the very highest scholarship of 
the world has produced. 

He formulated his theme thus : "Why is it, that 
our country has more crimes in proportion to its popula- 
tion, according to our daily official record, than a^iy 
other nation on the face of the earthf" On this sub- 
ject Mr. Firm Mind read the following essay with a 
distinct utterance to the crowded audience that came 
together from every direction on this extraordinary 
occasion : ''There are various causes of crime," was 
the opening sentence, and he continued : "The origi- 
nal cause of crime of course is, the natural depravity 
or spiritual corruption of the entire human nature. 
The chief political cause that yields the greatest har- 
vest of crimes in our country is, beyond all doubt, 
the neglect of the government to prevoit the various 
causes of crime from operating. 

The prevention of crime in a free country like 
this, is in the hands of the people, as they have the 
glorious privilege of choosing their lawmakers. But 
poHtics have become so corrupt for selfish ends, that 
chiefiv those who are indifferent toward all Christian 



IVhy Our Country Has More Criminals. 51 

and moral principles, become successful candidates 
for our legislative halls. An honest man, if elected, 
and will not be bound by party machines, must either 
give up his honesty and independent thought, or 
suffer defeat and public infamy at their hands. If at 
times good men are elected to execute the laws, 
what good can they accomplish with vicious laws 
and legislators ? The more criminals we have in every 
department of crime, the more employment for law- 
yers, who give us forms of law which are not made 
to prevent crime, but rather to encourage it, that they 
may reap a harvest, and enjoy the honor of punish- 
ing it. We can not expect good laws to prevent 
crime, as long as such men are elected to office, who 
only seek it for the selfish purpose of reaping a golden 
harvest. Why must our legislators and lawmakers 
all be attorneys and pettyfoggers ? Why not elect 
them from other avocations of life, where more hon- 
esty and virtue prevails? To these men we entrust 
our homes, our schools, our church and country. 
By their influence and laws our children are taught 
in our public schools by word and example to de- 
spise the fear of God, the very first principle of good 
citizenship. No wonder these children as they grow 
up despise the law itself and all public authority. It 
is the neglect of the state to impress the children with 
fear and respect toward God and His principles of 
truth and virtue, which is the chief cause why our 
country, as our statistics tell us, is filled with more 
criminals than any other on earth. Our public 
schools, manipulated by state laws and pettyfoggers. 



52 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

instead of text-books teaching morality and virtue, 
give such instruction that fan the flame of pride and 
ambition, self-esteem and selfish reliance, by inflating 
the minds and hearts of children with the dry husks 
of mere human knowledge and wisdom, and infat- 
uates them with the idea that this alone is all that 
is necessary to make good citizens. That such an 
education leads to crime, is what experience is demon- 
strating before our eyes every day. 

It is granted on all sides that the public schools 
are the only means directly in the hands of the gov- 
ernment to make good citizens. When the foun- 
tain is corrupt, the stream will also be polluted. The 
knowledge that creates self-importance is a danger- 
ous thing. Here the mind cuts loose from the hum- 
ble rules of virtue's old and accustomed habits, and 
strikes out into a new and independent path, which 
ends in vagrancy and crime. The false principle, 
that every one is entirely the architect of his own 
fortune, leads through desperate efforts, and ends in 
misfortune. Neither within nor without, neither 
genius nor environment, will enable any one to steer 
his vessel through all tides and storms to the happy 
islands. 

We read from the decision of Judge Street of 
Hamilton, Ont. ; 'With one exception all those con- 
victs were born in Hamilton and instructed in our 
public schools. But in these schools they hear noth- 
ing of religion and morality. No wonder they 
strayed into the way of perdition and now are crimi- 
nals.' 



Why Our Country Has More Criminals. 53 

By vicious legislation and the absence of the 
proper laws, our public school system has been 
wrested altogether from the principles established by 
the founders of our government. Our fathers de- 
voted their lives and labors in the establishment of 
a government for the security of religious liberty, 
that every one can worship God according to the 
dictates of his own conscience. They did not fight 
for a government for infidels or atheists, but for a 
religious people. The liberty to worship God im- 
plies the duty of every good citizen to worship Him. 
Nearly all those men who had a hand in framing the 
fundamental laws of our country were sincere Chris- 
tian men. They secured unto us Christian religious 
liberty. Religious liberty presupposes a reHgion, and 
liberty the free exercise thereof. And the religion 
which they regarded as necessary to good govern- 
ment, is the Christian, Protestant religion. For this 
religion was already established in the colonies be- 
fore the revolution, and has been the prevailing re- 
ligion in the country to the present day. It is the 
Protestant King James version of the Bible which the 
general government and all the states make use of 
to influence legislation. And the religious oath re- 
quired to hold office from the president down, and 
for witnesses in all our courts, is generally taken 
on this very Bible. An atheist can therefore not do 
this without perjuring himself. And yet, he is pro- 
tected with equal common rights to his life and the 
pursuit of happiness. 

This use and acknowledgment of the King James 



54 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

version proves that they meant the Protestant reli- 
gion, and not the religion of popery, of the Jews, the 
Mormons or Mahommedans. And yet, although our 
laws have not established a church or religion in this 
country, they evidently give the preference to the 
Protestant Christian religion above all others. Thanks 
to our Protestant Bible for that. For Christ first 
astonished the world with the doctrine: 'Give unto 
Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the 
things that are God's. And it was exclusively Pro- 
testants with their open Bible who have forced the 
acknowledgment of this principle, of the separation 
of church and state, in the fundamental laws of all 
Christian republics. 

It was Christ Himself, who was no respecter of 
persons, and the Bible that first taught men the doc- 
trine that all men are born free and equal before 
God, to the same personal rights, the fruits of their 
toil and pursuits of happiness. The command comes 
to the state as well as to every other divine or hu- 
man institution: 'Give unto God the things that are 
God's.' This requires the state to teach the knowl- 
edge of God in the public schools. How else can 
the Scriptures be construed in the passages : 'Yea, all 
kings shall fall down before him : all nations shall 
serve him.' Ps. y2, ii. 'All nations whom thou hast 
made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord ; 
and shall glorify Thy name.' Ps. 87, 9. 'O praise 
the Lord, all ye nations.' Ps. 117, i. 'For the nation 
and kingdom that will not scrz'c Thee shall perish; 
yea. those nations shall be utterly wasted.' Is. 60. 12. 



Why Our Country Has More Criminals. 55 

'The nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in 
Him shall they glory.' Jer. 4, 2. 'Hear the Word 
of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles 
afar ofif.' Jer. 31, 10. 'Praise the Lord, all ye Gen- 
tiles; and laud Him, all ye people.' Rom. 15, 11. 
'The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat : All 
therefore whatever they bid you observe, that ob- 
serve and do.' Matt. 23, 2. 3. Here Christ ex- 
pressly acknowledges the right and duty of the 
worldly powers to teach religion, although the rulers 
do not live religious lives themselves. We must ob- 
serve the truth they teach, but not their bad exam- 
ple. How many such schools are in this country 
teaching religion, and even all the churches belong 
to the government and are under its protection, and 
thus indirectly the government teaches religion. 

That state is inconsistent that does not teach the 
principles of Scripture as the greatest prevention of 
crime. How can the state consistently punish the 
murderer with death, when it has never previously 
taught him by any text-book authorized in its schools, 
that it is wrong to kill? It punishes the thief, but 
does not teach the child that it is wrong to steal. 
And so on through the whole catalogue. The state 
has a code of morals, but does not teach them to the 
people. A good text-book on morals and religion 
could easily be constructed from our statutes. Hence 
the government is inconsistent and unfaithful to its 
trust as long as it does not supply its schools with 
a text-book of its own morals acknowledged in its 
laws, and have them taught to the children. This 



b6 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

would be a preventive of crime. And an ounce of 
preventive, they sa}^ is worth a pound of cure. 

The principle upon which our public schools are 
now conducted is a false sentiment of honor, as 
though this alone would train the moral nature aright. 
This perverts the faculty of the understanding. Hence 
the complaint of teachers is constantly heard, that 
they are unable to maintain discipline in the schools. 
For this false sense of honor puffs up the child and 
soon places it beyond control. It places before the 
mind of the child a false ideal, as the goal of all its 
efiforts. This ideal is to be something great and ex- 
traordinary, above the common order of mortals. 
Parents, infatuated with this false sentiment of honor, 
will not allow their children to be corrected and pun- 
ished in the schools. 

There were once two schoolmates. The oldest, 
whose name was George, could only attend school 
a short time during the winter, as he had the work 
to do and manage things on the farm. But he was 
of studious habits and learned a great deal at home. 
He learnt to think for himself, and finally surpassed 
many teachers in the most difhcult branches of 
science. He always manifested a contented dispo- 
sition, and his conduct showed that he was satisfied 
with his condition in hfe, and pursued the even tenor 
of his way. 

Xot so his younger classmate, whose name was 
Charles. Charles went to school every day. One 
day coming from school he hailed George, who was 
ploughing in a field next the public road, where 



Why Our Country Has More Criminals. 57 

Charles came along. Charles told George that he 
was going to pull out of the common ruts, he was 
going to be something better than a poor farmer, 
who had to toil and slave his life away in working 
ihe ground, and wear soiled and ragged clothes. He 
was going to aim high, so everybody would look 
up to him some day when he became a man. 'He that 
aims at the stars/ said he, 'is apt to fly his arrow 
above him who only aims at the house-tops. He 
was going to be somebody great.' 

But George told him he thought it was folly, to 
aim beyond your reach. That it was the greatest 
wisdom and prudence to exert yourself within the 
sphere of your own powers, and by so doing you 
would at least become strong enough, God helping 
you, to be an honest man, and to take care of your- 
self. And having good health, food, raiment and 
shelter, a man of sense ought to be satisfied. 'Speak- 
ing of arrows,' said George, T will aim my arrow 
at what I know is within my reach.' 

'You remind me with your arrows of the Indian 
who was sent to hunt the white fawn. There was 
once an old Indian chief, who had carried his toma- 
hawk, bow and arrows on to victory through many 
a bloody field. But now he was bowed down and 
bent with age, and wept like a child, when he gath- 
ered his old braves around his last council fire and 
told them : 'I must soon be gathered to the good 
hunting grounds of my fathers. I can no more lead 
you on to the fight on the war-path. I shall no more 
enjoy the rush of the onset, or the thrill of triumph. 



58 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

A few more moons, and the sun sinks from my vision 
the last time. We must now decide who shall be my 
successor. I have three sons, all strong and healthy 
braves. Choose you three more from the tribe, and 
let the six decide among them who shall be the chief 
of his tribe. The one among the six who first brings 
me a white fawn shall be chief of his nation.' 

'So the young braves all set out at the appointed 
time to hunt the fawn for the old chief, that he might 
celebrate a departing feast with his old warriors, and 
help celebrate the coronation of the new chief. The 
youngest of his sons had the greatest number of 
scalps in his belt, and was thought the most gallant 
warrior of his tribe. The tribe doted on him, and 
wished him. success. These prospects, together with 
his great ambition to be chief of his nation, filled his 
fiery heart with so much anxiety and restlessness, 
and weighed like a tremendous burden upon his mind, 
so that when the appointed time came to set out for 
the hunt, his nerves were all unstrung, and it was 
easily to be seen by his hasty and excited maneuvers 
that he no longer possessed his former wonted gal- 
lant stride, and command of his faithful bow and 
arrows. * These young warriors now each set out in 
a different direction at the same time, from a circle 
the old chief had drawn around his comrades. Our 
young brave's path led him directly to the lake, 
which was in his favor. When he arrived at the 
lake he saw a large object, and he imagined it was 
a fawn swimming on the lake. In his zeal and ex- 
citement he fired awav one arrow after the other. 



Why Our Country Has More Criminals. 59 

until his quiver was exhausted. He aimed too high, 
the arrows all fell far beyond the fawn. So the fawn 
swam away among the flags and water lilies as before. 
His arrows were now all on the bottom of the lake. 
He bethought himself, what best to do. He was an ex- 
cellent swimmer. He became desperate. He re- 
solved by foul means or fair, he must have that fawn. 
So, without making the least noise, he crept down 
into the water, and swam up to the fawn, and caught 
it by the legs. 

Now the fawn had been chased into the water 
by a large panther, who crouched near by in a thicket, 
waiting the return of his prey. The deer had been 
wounded by some other hunters. It was approaching 
near the bank wl]ere the panther lay, when the Indian 
overtook it. As he was drawing the fawn toward the 
shore, the panther leaped upon the Indian and buried 
his tusks into his throat. The Indian, weakened by 
his struggles, soon fell a victim to his savage foe. And 
there the Indian was left dead upon the bank, and the 
wounded fawn fled into the wilderness. This fable 
teaches not to aim too high, there is a lake under- 
neath, and a panther in the bushes." "That is a fine 
Indian story and a good one," said Charles. 

As to the twO' schoolmates, Charles and George, 
one became a prosperous farmer, a good, honest and 
reliable citizen. Charles in a way, also obtained the 
object of his high aim. He was looked up to, as he 
said he was bound to be some day, but it was when he 
stood on the platform of the gallows. 

There is no sentiment that prevails more among 



60 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

the American people than this false sense of honor, 
impressed upon the youthful mind in our public 
schools. Everywhere, in every calling in life we meet 
this boastful disposition to excel in everything. The 
person who can tell the biggest yarn, or the most har- 
rowing tale, is master of the social circle. The author 
who describes the most vicious characters and crim- 
inals in the hyperboles of heroism, is worshiped as a 
master of the art. The biggest show wins, though 
there is nothing in it but the advertisements. 

This false sense of honor has given birth to ''the 
new woman," who is nothing but a blustering virago, 
with her complement, the tramp. This false ideal be- 
gets a love for sensation, which is the mother of adu- 
lation and flattery. The mind of youth thus perverted, 
regards ambition and flattery as the highest virtues. 
This method of cramming the intellect with mere secu- 
lar knowledge, instead of preventing, leads to vice, 
pauperism and crime. The very best merely intellec- 
tual education only sharpens the bad propensities. 
The intellect, in spite of all human pride and boast, 
is but the poor vassal of the will. The heart and pas- 
sions sway it with all its contents, as the whirlwind 
tosses a feather through the air. The demagogue, 
pettifogger, stump orator or political editor, never ad- 
dress the intellect, but play upon the licentious pas- 
sions and prejudices, because they know that these 
are sovereign masters of the will, and rule the whole 
man. 

Hence all other considerations and accomplish- 
ments should give way to secure to the child its virtue, 



Why Our Country Has More Criminals. 61 

to cherish and nurse up and settle him down into good 
habits, and to correct and weed out bad incHnations 
and tendencies. Why educate a child in mere secular 
branches, when this only and inevitably makes a little 
rascal of a boy twice as sharp as he was before, thrice 
the greater adept in vice and villainy, and makes him 
a cutthroat and desperado ? Mere scientific or literary 
instruction is not suiBcient to make a good citizen. 
Having learned all that secular education can teach, 
it is impossible by the knowledge so gained to hide 
moral ignorance, or to regard such people as educated 
men and women. Such an education is mischievous 
in the highest degree. Physical science can never 
make an educated man. Even the formal sciences, 
valuable as they are, for the discipline of the reasoning 
powers, can never instruct the judgment. Moral and 
religious knowledge alojw can do this. And, by avoid- 
ing these studies in our schools, the children are 
forced continually to exercise their thoughts and un- 
derstanding only on worldly matters, so when they as 
citizens come to act upon these higher principles, they 
cannot act otherwise than merely upon ignorance, 
prejudice and passion. For they must have emotions 
of moral good and evil of some kind, and if the schools 
do not see to it that these emotions be good and pure, 
their lives can be nothing else but an episode of folly 
and crime. The lowest claim which any intelligent 
man not blinded by prejudice can ofifer in behalf of 
what constitutes an education, is that it must extend 
over and include man's whole nature ; the body, train- 
ing it by the observance of those physical laws which 



62 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

secure health, give strength and prolong life; the in- 
tellect, strengthening the mind, filling it with knowl- 
edge, and giving it a taste for the noble, science 
and the fine arts ; and over man's moral and religious 
susceptibilities, dethroning selfishness, enthroning the 
enlightened conscience, leading the affections in good 
will to man and gratitude to God. The intellectual 
and moral faculties are so intimately blended that they 
cannot be separately cultivated and developed, without 
unbalancing the mind to prejudice or superstition. A 
being endowed with cultivated intellect without en- 
lightened moral faculties, is nothing but a human 
monster. 

Without any text book on morals and religion, 
and the Bible thrown out of our public schools, the 
country is bringing up one generation of criminals 
after the other. Our boasted free school education 
is to no purpose, except to expose our shame ; that of 
being the most enlightened criminal community of 
any nation on earth. With the adepts of a mere secu- 
lar education at the helm to control our nation's 
schools, we need no seer to tell us whither our ship 
of state is tending. Is it not high time to take our 
bearings and change our course, before the storm 
which is inevtiable, will burst in anarchy and despot- 
ism over our heads? Let us return to the paths of 
our fathers ! The fear of the Lord is the beginning 
of wisdom ! Fear must take the place of this false 
sense of honor, sentimentalism and sensationalism in 
our public schools. This is the ax that strikes at the 
root of man's moral nature. Where there is no child- 



Why Our Country Has More Criminals. 63 

like fear for those in authority, there can be no love 
and confidence awakened for those placed over us. 
First comes fear, then love, then trust ! 'Thou shalt 
fear, love and trust in God above all things." If the 
teacher does not continually impress the children with 
fear and respect for his of^ce, he cannot keep them 
in the proper disciphne, so as to concentrate their 
attention on their studies, without which no progress 
can be attained. 

The child must first learn to fear, honor and re- 
spect its parents, its teachers and the authorities of the 
government, then it will love and trust in them. You 
cannot turn this schedule about and teach subordin- 
ates, trust or confidence in those whom they hate, and 
you cannot teach them to love those whom they are 
accustomed to despise. This is not a slavish fear, but 
a childlike confidence and respect. The child must 
not forget that it is a child, and you are its father or 
mother, and that all your demands for its welfare and 
discipline, are but the demands of a father's and a 
mother's love. Thus, if proper Christian discipline 
and training prevailed in our schools, we would not so 
frequently hear from prisons and scafifolds : 'If I had 
been taught my duty when a child at school, I would 
not be where I am now.' It is all right enough to 
preach to convicts in our prisons, but the teaching 
that keeps them out of prison, is more merciful and a 
thousandfold more beneficial. 

If it is not in the sphere of the government to 
educate its people in good morals, then it is plainly 
not in the sphere of the government to train them up 



64 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

as good citizens at all, for it is impossible to make good 
citizens without teaching them how to conduct them- 
selves toward their fellow beings. Then too, would 
the government be unjust and inconsistent in making 
any law requiring the punishment of the gross trans- 
gression of any moral law as a crime. And as the 
church and state are separate institutions, the state 
has no rigdit to leave or prescribe any duty on the 
church. The government is responsible for all its 
citizens. 

In forcing the Bible and all moral instruction out 
of the public schools, all the influence for good is 
through the children which Christian families send 
there, although the public school never fails to exer- 
cise a bad influence on the children of Christian fam- 
ilies. When sent there they immediately begin to 
contract ill habits of disobedience to parents and bad 
conduct toward their playmates, and require double 
care and correction at home. The influence of our 
public schools is to corrupt the morals of youth. 
When you take out of these schools all Christian 
teachers and children, in ivhat is left you have the 
public school as now conducted by the state. In^ it- 
self, it is a hot-bed of vicious characters. 

What prevents our common schools from utter 
and immediate corruption of the entire community is, 
the abundance of salt thrown into them by the Chris- 
tian church. Whereas the state at present, by ignor- 
ing the Word of God and its influence : by throwing it 
out throws into schools the most corrupting influences 
to degrade their moral and religious sensibilities. 



Why Our Country Has More Criminals. Q5 

Now, departing from the spirit of our fathers and their 
laws, the most holy and sacred relations among 
men are ignored and tampered with by the present 
laws of states. The relations of father, mother, sister, 
brother, and all the sacred ties of home, instead of 
being protected by wholesome laws, are mocked and 
ignored, and lose their kindred influence, their beauti- 
ful and pathetic charm, dearest to memory while 
it lasts. 

The influence of various laws in dififerent states 
on marriage and divorce, enters into our schools by 
state authority, and force their looseness, profligacy 
and lewdness into the minds and hearts of children in 
public schools. These schools thus become directly re- 
sponsible for the illicit marriages which fill our asylums 
with insane, decrepit and deformed offspring, and our 
prisons with adulterers and murderers. It is praise- 
worthy that our General Government enforces the 
principles, that every man should have but one wife, 
and every wife her own husband. Yet, the facility 
afforded by loose laws to change consorts like cattle, 
invalidates this principle, and thus tears up the foun- 
dation of all true morality by the root. For there can 
be no morality thought of, outside of the human fam- 
ily ; and it is admitted by every consistent moralist, thai 
marriage is the foundation of the family and all true 
morals. Here alone are found those tender ties that 
bmd the race together into a society of civilized beings. 
Those sacred relations are based upon the tenderest 
bonds of sympathy and affection known to the chil- 
dren of mankind, and constitute the basis of every 



66 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

social compact in every state or condition of men. 
Human life on this earth is impossible without them, 
outside of a single generation. 

Every forcible attempt by laws to tear up, invali- 
date or weaken these bonds, paves the way for debility 
of our offspring, perverts society into a mob of tumul- 
tuous violence, a breeding swamp of criminals, a con- 
dition of misrule and barbarism. And every law that 
tends to strengthen and protect these bonds, streng- 
thens and protects the highest civilization of which 
our race on earth is capable, and secures the sources 
of every human blessing and hope. 

Since the General Government claims the right and 
has exercised the power to interfere and adjust marital 
relations in Utah to prevent polygamy, to be consistent 
it should make an effort to bring about uniformity in 
state laws on marriage and divorce, based on the prin- 
ciples already endorsed by the Government, and 
the universal intelligence of the race. If this were 
done, the lawyer and sheriff would lose a great part of 
their employment. For their benefit the laws pertain- 
ing to public schools are manipulated so as to afford 
them as many victims as possible. For they say they 
must live, and the country owes them a living. \Mien 
the state thus makes use of the only means it has to 
raise up good citizens it does not need to flaunt the 
church when some of her members fall victims to its 
power. If the state would, instead of menacing pro- 
tect our homes and the church, our country would 
be saved from this blot and scandal among the nations 
of the earth." 



Why Our Country Has More Criminals. 67 

Thus ended this long essay, which consumed con- 
siderable time. The hour was now too late to take it 
up for further discussion or criticism. The immense 
crowd manifested considerable excitement and disap- 
proval at many things contained in the paper. Some 
thought his object was to do away with the common 
schools. On the contrary, he recognized them as a 
necessity, and only aimed to correct them and to make 
them still more efficient for good. The Association 
appointed another time as well as other essayists, to 
prepare p::pers on parts or criticisms of the essay, or 
some subject pertaining to the moral instruction of 
youth. The privilege was also granted to any one 
disposed to do so, to ofifer his thoughts in a written 
form on the same subject. 

As the large assembly of people were dismissed, 
they expressed their gratification at what transpired, 
and were glad that the subject would be taken up again 
for discussion, in the large auditorium of the Teach- 
er's Association at Rolling Meads in four weeks. 



SUNDAY SCHOOL PICNIC. 

^ ^ ^ 

^ ^Wl ELL, Miss Emma Grail," spoke a finely 
V V dressed lady of nineteen summers one day 
in the Groves of Salem, near Fountains of Streams, 
"Why were you not at the political meeting and ball 
they had in our town last week ? It was just grand ! 
It was composed of school teachers and the most re- 
fined class of society." 

Laying aside her wraps, the questioner now ap- 
proached nearer and took her seat on the moss- 
covered margin of a cool spring, by the side of the 
lady she addressed. It was in a beautiful grove, and 
they were now sitting in the cool shade, that spread 
out over the waters, that were laughing down over the 
shining pebbles into the brook that glided away at 
their feet between its mossy banks. There was a 
picnic holding forth in the grove, by the children of 
the Sunday School of Fountains of Streams. 

"Why, Miss Sadie Clark," said Emma, as she 
closed the book she was reading, "how do you do! 
It is a great while since we met! And what makes 
you ask me such a foolish question? Don't you 
know the church is opposed to dancing?" 

"But I say no to that," said Miss Clark. 

"So, so; we are not agreed then," answered 
Emma. "Why not? We might as well talk it out 
now, for we ought to be agreed, because we both 



. Sunday School Picnic at Rolling Meads. 69 

belong to the same church. Only my minister 
preaches in Pleasantville, and yours at Fountains of 
Streams. Now why can we not agree? I am sure 
it is good exercise, and trains a person in graceful 
movements and good manners. Especially among 
such refined and educated people." 

''Because," repHed Miss Grail, "the devil, the 
world and the flesh say 3;^^, with you. So you see 
you are in bad company. Evil communications cor- 
rupt good manners. Come out from among them. 
God says no, the holy angels and all good people 
say no. So I am in good company. Will you not 
come over to us. Miss Clark?" 

"Well, I think you are wrong," said Miss Clark. 
''I cannot see any harm in dancing in itself. My 
pastor, who is just a grand preacher, has a big church 
and large salary, he certainly knows all about it, for 
he is a college graduate, and he tells me that dancing 
is all right in itself.^' 

"My friend," was the retort, "your talk is not 
only unkind, but it is also very foolish, lighter than 
thistle down, scattered by the softest breath to the 
winds of heaven. It is a bubble, which a puff blows 
out of existence. Don't you know, did your mother 
never tell you, that great preachers, big churches, 
large salaries, college graduates and great knowl- 
edge, prove nothing and do not make anything what- 
ever right in the sight of God?" 

The reader will observe that these two ladies 
have had but a slight acquaintance, having met but 
a few minutes on similar occasions. Had Miss Sadie 



70 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

Clark been better acquainted with Miss Emma Grail, 
she never would have approached her as she did on 
such a subject. For, in natural intelligence and sound 
sense, she was more than outflanked by her com- 
panion. But once in the lists, the plucky little maiden 
would not leave the field without a stubborn effort 
to stand her ground, for she was not a little piqued 
at the shaking up she had already received from her 
antagonist. 

''Now, for mere information," said she, "will 
you please tell me plainly, where is the harm in danc- 
ing in itself f" 

"Much every way," spoke Miss Grail. "I am 
opposed to dancing in itself, because it is never in 
itself or by itself when you dance. There is always 
a man or woman in it, and generally both, and some- 
times the man and the woman become too evident 
that they are in it, and that dancing is never in itself. 
This abstraction is mere sophistry, an excuse for the 
malice of insincerity. The good Book tells us that 
the whole creation is out of joint, it 'groaneth 
and travaileth in pain together until now.' So you 
see that the creation exists only together, and nothing 
can or does exist separate from the whole, in itself 
or of itself. And the whole groaneth and travaileth 
in pain together. Is God pleased with that? Is that 
the God-given moral condition of His creatures, to 
groan and travail? Certainly there is nothing then 
right in itself, as it can not exist apart from the 
whole, and everything is all out of fix with itself. 
Now man is not rieht in himself either. There is 



Sunday School Picnic at Rolling Meads. 71 

none that doeth good, not one. So dancing must 
be evil in itself too, for it is something that man does. 
All man's works are sinful and wicked continually. 
xA.nd hence the earth and all it contains is iteelf under 
the curse and wrath of the Almighty on man's ac- 
count. There is not a blossom that blows, a flower 
that blooms, a blade of grass that springs from the 
virgin earth, nor a bird that sings, that is not cursed 
of God, by a decree which He only can recall. The 
scorching sting of sin's broad arrow has pierced and 
poisoned all that lives. They die, and are locked 
up in the cold embrace of the grave. The blossom 
withers, it falls from its stem and buries its glory 
in the dust at your feet. See that flower there ! It 
blooms no more. It is dead. That beautiful flower, 
which but a short while ago smelt so sweetly, now 
gives a fetid breath. It hangs its head and scat- 
ters its petals that danced so gaily in the wind, and 
mingles them w?th the cold and senseless earth. 
Where is the green lawn when the frosts of winter 
have blown over it? Where the beautiful green fields? 
How brown and bare they look ! When cruel win- 
ter comes, where is the merry birds' sweet song? 
And our little Dicky, the canary, is dead. He will 
never more pipe unto us his glad 'Good morning.' 
There he lies in the yard, mingling his soiled pin- 
ions in the grass, and hugging the dust of his de- 
parted kindred, the blossoms and the flowers. Oh ! 
is it not a bitter world, where all that's lovely dies?" 
Other ladies and little girls and boys had gath- 
ered round the two speakers, some sitting, others 



72 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

standing and attentively listening to the discussion. 
This interest and attention drew many pretty remarks 
from ]\Iiss Grail, who almost forgot her companion, 
and spoke as though she had her Sunday School 
class before her. And now it became still more in- 
teresting, for just at this point Miss Grail turned upon 
her antagonist with a scowl of indignation on her 
countenance and said : ''And how can you any longer 
say that anything is right in itself, while all the preach- 
ers of nature's loveliness proclaim to all the world 
the bitterness of the curse under which they suflfer, 
waiting, only waiting to be redeemed, waiting for the 
adoption of the sons of God ? Or if you have lost all 
faith in those lovely preachers from whom your Sa- 
vior invites you so sweetly to learn when He says: 
'Behold the flowers of the field,' will you still stub- 
bornly refuse the blessed lesson, and listen to the 
ugly preachers of the flesh, the world and the danc- 
ing devil? Oh stop," and she sprang to her feet 
as she raised her voice, "stop, ]\Iiss Clark, before you 
reach the brink of ruin and perish forever. The flesh, 
the world and the devil stand on that brink of ruin 
arranged like angels of light, urging you forvs^ard with 
fearful speed over the brink into the black precipice. 
But the devil and his preachers are all liars, and the 
flowers and the birds are the true preachers. He 
that hath ears to hear let him hear.'' 

The effects of drill in teachers* meetings under 
the direction of a master of great tact and ability, 
manifests itself in the words and arguments of Miss 
Emma Grail, who for years had taught advanced 



Sunday School Picnic at Rolling Meads. 7S 

classes at Rolling Meads. The lessons and instruc- 
tions she had received ever since she could read and 
was a little child, arose in her mind like armed men^ 
and helped her to repel and overcome the subject 
with indignation. Experience, like a strong man 
in his strength, stood like a stone wall against the 
hateful suggestions seducing the mind and heart to 
the bondage of frail human depravity and wicked- 
ness, and enabled her to proclaim her determination 
to be free, in words as clear and brave as any queen 
could utter. 

''Emma Grail," said Miss Sadie Clark, "your 
thoughts are very strange indeed. I never heard 
such a view of things before. You paint everything 
too black. Your accusation is most terrible. It 
makes me sick of heart to hear it. And to think 
you sincerely believe it all to be true." 

"And will you doubt my sincerity for a moment," 
retorted Miss Grail, "can you prove the contrary? 
At least you should show some reason for thus doubt- 
ing your friend. Come, let us sit on this log. Now. 
Dancing in itself you know can not exist in reality. 
It is only such stuff as dreams are made of, an illu- 
sion of a rudderless mind, tossed amid the spray of 
fancy's whirlpool, and dashed without mercy against 
the frowning cliffs of prejudice and passion, and is 
not to be found anywhere in the world of nature and 
reality. Without food and the eater, eating in itself 
never made a pig fat. So dancing in itself is a mere 
pretense, a worthless plea to excuse a worthless play^ 



74 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

to shield the play of a dissolute character of vice and 
folly." 

''Your philosophy," said Miss Clark, making an 
attempt to appear learned and knowing, ''your phi- 
losophy as to the evil results of sin, I recognize is 
very severe. Whether I can accept the application 
of the principle of absolute total depravity in this 
instance without reservation, you will allow me some 
hesitation. Now I know well enough, when I pluck 
a flower from its stem, it soon withers away and dies. 
But grass is mown for hay; pigs, sheep and cattle 
must give us meat. Flowers grow to be plucked that 
we may enjoy their sweetness. Trees grow that they 
may be felled, to build houses and cities and vehicles, 
and to afford us wood to burn in winter. Little birds 
are killed for their feathers and our adornment. All 
this seems very cruel, that these innocent things 
should suffer all this merely for man's sake. I think 
that all these things were intended to serve man- 
kind from the beginning just in this way, for God's 
sake and honor. And if they now are subjected to 
the servitude of sin, it was done for the sake of Him 
who subjected them in hope. You remind me of 
when I was a child. When I pricked a worm with 
a pin, it frightened me terribly to see it squirm and 
kick. I ran away and screamed. I felt guilty of 
a great wrong. Gladly would I have pulled out the 
pin, but I was afraid. And when my older brother 
plucked out the pin I shuddered, for it hurt my feel- 
ings intensely. He laughed at me to see me shud- 
der and tormented me by pricking the poor worm 



Sunday School Picnic at Rolling Meads. 75 

to death. I asked him how he could be so cruel 
and wicked, as to hurt the poor thing so? 'Oh,' said 
he, 'that's nothing. The earth is full of worms. Where 
we go we crush them under our feet. Horses and 
cattle, wheels and plowshares destroy them without 
number every day. And birds and insects live by 
destroying them, and feed upon each other.' So, by 
education and practice, I soon learnt not to care, and 
would really laugh outright to see the worm curl 
up and kick when I would prick it, although I loathed 
its nastiness. I would laugh and have great fun to 
see the fiies try to fly or get away, after I had pulled 
off their wings and legs. But when you put yourself 
in their place, it is a hard lot these poor creatures 
must bear, without any fault of their own. It does 
not seem just. It is not just. And has man alone 
made them thus to groan in pain? The thought is 
terrible. It frightens me. Are we really all mur- 
derers then, of these innocent creatures? How 
awful ! how immensely wicked, to be the murderers 
of nature's lovely creatures ! of the helpless and in- 
nocent little insect world, the cheerful birds and every 
sweet little pet ! Will God hold us to an account 
for their murder? Surely not. These are not in- 
telligent beings, they are not conscious of any wrong. 
It is to them as a matter of course, and they know 
nothing about it." 

"Miss Clark," said Emma, ''I am glad to hear 
that you have some sympathy in your heart for our 
sad and fallen state, and are aware of your conscious- 
ness of sin. Still, you try to cover the accusations 



76 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

of your own conscience with some excuse. You ex- 
cuse yourself by saying* that animals and flowers have 
no intelligence, and are not conscious of any pain. 
How do you know this? If the worm is wholly un- 
conscious of any pain, why does it squirm when you 
prick it? Why does the flower droop its head and 
get so sick and sad when you pluck it? That their 
consciousness is different from an intelligent con- 
sciousness, such as you have, I admit. But little 
infants have no intelligent consciousness either, as 
well as some persons who lose their consciousness 
by wounds on the head or through sickness, and 
yet you must admit that he who kills an infant or 
a person in his sleep, is a murderer. The command, 
'Thou shalt not kill,' was given to murderers. You 
have no excuse. Your guilt is written upon every 
flower that fades, in every bird that dies, in every blade 
of grass you blacken with your tread, and in the 
worm that crawls at your feet. So the creature groans 
under the curse put upon it by man's transgression, 
according to the reason and plan of Him who sub- 
jected the same in hope. Xow man, who is an in- 
telligent being, willingiy made himself subject to van- 
ity by his willful transgression. But the creature was 
made subject to vanity, not willingly. Rom. 8, 20. 
So Lhe innocent must suffer with the guilty. How 
wicked is man to fill the world with pain and sorrow. 
He is by nature so totally depraved that he can 
neither will or do anything good. God alone can 
work in man the will and the power to do good by 
His grace, which is according to His good pleasure." 



Sunday School Picnic at Rolling Meads. 77 

"Why did God permit it?" inquired Sadie. "Why 
does He not stop the evil? Why does He not put 
an end to this great wickedness ?" 

"Because," repHed Emma, "God first gave man 
the power of free choice between good and evil, else 
he could never have done either good or evil by his 
own free will. Now man freely chose to transgress, 
and thus abused this freedom, lost his holiness and 
righteousness, and through sin brought death into 
the world. Sin corrupted the whole human nature 
with sinful desires and passions. So that he now 
hates where once there was nothing but love. And 
hate makes him a murderer. True, God will once 
bring this evil state to an end. ^Because the creature 
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of 
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children 
of God.' Rom. 8, 21. But now, if you want to be 
a Christian and to be delivered from this corruption, 
you can not take pleasure in evil desires and passions. 
You cannot take pleasure in dancing, and thus pander 
to the lusts of the flesh, and at the same time have 
part in this deliverance from the bondage of corrup- 
tion. Do not excuse yourself by dancing in itself. 
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 
Whatever you love in itself, or delight in for its own 
sake alone, becomes your treasure, your idol. In 
itself, there is but one you should love and delight 
in for His own sake, and this is God your Savior. 
Above all things fear, love and trust in Him. Now, 
dancing in itself seems to be your heart's delight, 
more than any other enjoyment. You will not give 



78 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

it up. You want to excuse yourself because a silly 
preacher once told you, that it was all right in itself. 
As a Christian, you are to glorify God by your life 
and conduct. AA'hatever you do, do all to the glory 
of God, says the Bible. Do you think these balls 
and dances, where the lowest characters on earth 
lead the crowd, where all kinds of vice and the worst 
evils prevail, tend to glorify God? I say, hands off 
here ! Here sin builds a hot fire, and it burns to the 
lowest perdition." 

''But dare a Christian have no fun at all," re- 
plied Aliss Clark, "must he always go poking through 
the world like a melancholy old stork, with a nose 
as long as a telescope, forever turned up to the stars ? 
]\Iust a person deprive himself of every earthly de- 
light, and shut himself up from the world like some 
old hermit or monk in his cell, and have no enjoy- 
ment at all?" 

"]\Iy dear friend," answ^ered ]\i%s Grail, "storks, 
hermits and monks, are not very desirable company 
at the best, especially to a person who wants to be of 
some use to mankind. No one ever lived who loved 
fun and enjoyment more than I do. But it depends 
altogether on the kind of fun and enjoyment it is. 
Most certainly, our dear Father in heaven wants us to 
enjoy ourselves in every decent and respectable way. 
He so loves us that He wants us to have the fullest 
and purest fun and holy enjoyment. At His right 
hand He has prepared the fullness of joy for us, and 
pleasures for evermore. Healthy joy and sport gives 
life and strength by its exercise, and thrills body and 



Sunday School Picnic at Rolling Meads. 79 

soul with the sweetest thoughts and memories of home 
and its treasures. Here, amid the tenderest relations 
and highest joys of earth, all your fun and enjoyment 
are sanctified by the word of God and prayer. Into 
such a circle of kindred souls, our heavenly Father 
throws all His smiles, and Himself partakes in the 
social glee of happy beings who are all His own. 
Here music and family sports divert the mind and ease 
the body, when weary with toil and the burdens of 
life. Influenced by Christian parents and the Word, 
they refresh and strengthen us to work and struggle 
on the course set before us. All earthly sports and 
joy must help us on our way, to our sweetest home 
in heaven. When they retard us or divert us from 
this way, they are abused, and will bring us to grief. 
They must serve us as refreshments to strengthen the 
weary traveler on his journey. All things, our earthly 
sports and joys, fun and enjoyment, sorrows and afflic- 
tion, must work together for good to them that love 
God. 

But in chasing the bubble of sensual joys, how 
soon our health gives way, the bubble bursts, and then 
comes a fearful looking forward to a joyless eternity. 
The thoughts of death and eternity frighten the bravest 
souls amid their sensual revels and songs. Abandon 
yourself as you will, the reality of death and eternity 
will stare you in the face, and the voice of conscience 
put to sleep for a while, will wake up in your despair, 
and talk to you of worms and epitaphs. To riot in 
sensual pleasures for their own sake, robs the mind of 
reason, and makes the body weak and frail, causes this 



80 FoH)itai)is of Streams and Public Schools. 

solid flesh to flab and decay, yea, as on many a battle 
field it melts, thaws, and resolves itself into dew, and 
exposes the grimming horror and hideous skeleton 
of death. And this is your reward — the reward of 
abandoning the company of God's good people, for 
the fellowship of corrupters and seducers of every 
stain, for the ball and the dance. There is an open 
door, into which comes the blooming health, the rose's 
beauty, tripping along with pride, envy, deceit, hatred, 
folly, lust, passion, blasphemy, riot and drunkenness. 
What an army ! What a victory ! An army of thieves, 
organized for plunder and murder ! A victory of 
death, and a triumph of hell ! Friend, turn, turn from 
ruin, disgrace and despair! You say, sometime, to 
this ; but not now. All say this. None seriously in- 
tend to continue thus to the grave. A little while 
longer only, another thrill of wild riot, another throb 
of passion, and still another, until your conscience 
becomes seared as with a hot iron, and your spirit 
hardened, and you cannot shake it off and turn to 
virtue's ways. It is now late for you, I see it is so 
late, very late, but you can enter still. Hasten now, 
make haste, before you hear the voice of despair sigh- 
ing : Too late ; too late ; you cannot — enter — now.' " 
"Why," began Miss Clark, ''don't you believe in 
a death-bed repentance ? Do you reject the beautiful 
hymn, 'As long as the lamp holds out to burn. The 
vilest sinner may return?'" "Indeed I do," was the 
answer: 'T fear too many comfort themselves in vain 
with that false sentiment. True, yau refer to the thief 
on the cross, like all the rest. And it is indeed possible 



Sunday School Picnic at Rolling Meads. 81 

for those who never heard of their Savior, or only a 
partial or false report of Him and His work, and first 
receive the full knowledge of His dying merits on 
their death-bed, that they may be saved. But those 
who have the blessed opportunity to hear it preached 
every Sunday, and to read it every day, and purposely 
put off their repentance and conversion to that hour, 
for a life of sin and intentional pollution, will seek 
their repentance with tears on their dying bed, but 
never find it. He who thus despises the day of sal- 
vation, the open Bible and free grace, Christ, the 
righteous Judge of all, will also despise and reject, 
when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the 
holy angels. And have you never read or heard, that 
the Scriptures say there are those for whom we need 
not pray? These are they who have so long rejected 
salvation, that their hearts are hardened, and have lost 
the capacity of true repentance, and have passed be- 
yond redemption. God cannot forgive their sins, 
neither in this world, nor in the world to come, they 
have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. These 
are plain statements of the Scriptures on this sub- 
ject. Therefore your hymn must be false." 

During these remarks, Sadie Clark hung her 
head, and looked intently on the ground before her. 
The eyes of the crowd that hemmed them in, now fell 
on Miss Clark for a reply, as they knew her conduct 
was suspicious, and fully deserved the censure it re- 
ceived. She still sat there pensively looking on the 
ground, rapt in deep thought. At length, all at once, 
as though her mind had found some sudden deter- 



82 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

mination, she drew a long breath, as though to reUeve 
herself, and broke forth : "Well, Miss Grail, I am go- 
ing to let you know that I am not that far gone yet. 
I am never going to such a ball or dance again. I am 
convinced now that your position is the only safe and 
right one. And I want you to help me to stand by it. 
You must come to see me, and we'll go to hear our 
young pastor at Pleasantville some Sunday. Then 
we can talk to him about it, and hear what he has to 
say.'' 

''My dear Sadie Clark," replied Emma, *T am in- 
deed very glad to hear your resolution, and thank you 
very much for your kind invitation, and hope to meet 
you more frequently herefater. As to your minister, 
I cannot think he was really sincere, when he told 
you that dancing was all right in itself. If so, he was 
certainly most sadly mistaken, as young and green 
ministers too often are. For his benefit, I urgently 
invite you to bring him over to Rolling [Meads, when 
out Teachers' Association meets, and then he will have 
an opportunity to hear our dear old pastor, ajid get the 
judgment of the entire Association on this or any 
other important social topic. I am glad you have re- 
solved to avoid the dance and the ball room. I could 
not become a companion of yours otherwise. Because 
public school teachers are present and call out the 
dance or cotillion, and play the violin to furnish music 
for the occasion, and by their example patronize the 
dance, and induce the young people to take part and 
to get up dances in the neighborhood, is no honor 
to them and their schools. The orreatest rowdies and 



Sunday School Picnic at Rolling Meads. 83 

worst characters of the country attend with bottles 
of whiskey in their pocket, and pollute the air with 
their foul breath, profanation, quarreling and fighting. 
So you see, that the dance in itself, as you please to 
call it, is the destruction of all decency and morals 
in the public schools and neighborhood. The inde- 
cencies and privileges allowed and taken by the young 
people of both sexes in the dances of school districts 
in the country, towns, cities and villages, lead to im- 
moral results, destructive to all virtue and honor, and 
thus ruin all the fair prospects for a good and useful 
life. No decent Christian lady or gentleman will 
have anything to do with them, whatever school teach- 
ers or shallow brained preachers may say to the con- 
trary. It is to be lamented that our public school 
teachers have no respect for the principles of morals. 
But the time is not far distant, when only teachers 
of a good moral character will be allowed in the public 
schools. 

"So come over when our Association meets. I am 
not acquainted with your minister. I saw him but 
once, at a missionary festival last summer. I ob- 
served he was very lively and free in his manners, and 
tried to put on knowing airs. He seemed to value 
sociability above piety, entirely too much so to make 
a good minister. He would avoid religious topics 
in his conversation as much as possible for fear of con^ 
troversy and ill feeling, and would change the conver- 
sation about some foolish thing to raise a laugh, and 
try to say smart things about it. Thus young preach- 
ers want to show off in a crowd. He may be a fluent 



84 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

speaker as you say, and yet be nothing but sounding 
brass and a tinkling cymbal. Certain it is, I was 
not very well impressed with him that day." 

''Oh Emma, how can you talk so," said Sadie, 
''I hope your mind will change on better acquaintance, 
which I hope may soon take place. We will come 
over as soon as we can. I wish we could talk longer, 
but I see your friends are breaking up their picnic 
for home, and we must part for this time. I will bring 
our minister along, for your Association, he told me, 
has caused great excitement and dissatisfaction 
throughout the country. You have nearly all the 
public school teachers against you. It is said that 
some of your people have written articles or essays 
against the public schools, and your old minister seems 
opposed to them too, and is working to have a school 
of his own." 

''For this very reason," replied Emma, "by all 
means come and inform yourselves from headquarters. 
I pity those who believe all reports, which enemies of 
all true religion ignorantly and spitefully circulate 
about us. It is not true that our pastor is opposed to 
public schools, in the sense you intimate, of having 
them abandoned. He regards them as an absolute 
necessity for our country, and there is no greater 
champion or defender of the common schools to be 
found in all the country than our minister. And all 
he does, and all our Teachers' Association does, is in 
defence of our common schools, to defend them from 
moral corruption and decay. The good the public 



Sunday School Picnic at Rolling Meads. 85 

schools accomplish, even in their present corrupt con- 
dition, cannot be estimated by dollars and cents. Yet, 
he is opposed to the moral corruption of these schools, 
He would have the position of the common school 
system in relation to the Bible and morality changed. 
Instead of being opposed to the Bible and its moral 
teachings, he labors to have the Bible' and its moral 
teachings recognized as an authority and standard 
of life and conduct in the public schools, and its les- 
sons on history and civil righteousness taught to the 
children as the laws of the country demand. The Bible 
is the only book that teaches us how to live in this 
world to become good citizens, and he wants all the 
children in the public schools to become good citizens. 
The spirit in the public schools at present ignores and 
is opposed to teaching the children how to live decent 
and respectable lives, as the Bible and our country's 
laws require. They think such teaching is unneces- 
sary. Hence these schools do not pretend to teach 
the children how to be good moral citizens. * 

So far as his own school is concerned, our pastor 
always had that, and does not need to work for it. 
Our children must all have a good Christian education, 
before they can be received into full membership of 
the church. And our church always required parents 
to send their children to their own church school. 
Sadie, only come and hear for yourselves, and you will 
no longer be deceived by such reports. I promise 
to entertain you and your friends as well as I can. So, 
good bye, Sadie !" ''Good bye, Emma," were the fare- 



86 Foioitaiiis of Streams and Public Schools. 

well greetings of two friends who grew nearer and 
warmer to each other by this conversation, and as they 
left the beautiful groves of Salem, the words re-echoed 
over their heads : ''No harm done 1" "No — not at all !" 
"Bye-bye !" "Bye-bye !" 



MR. FIRM MIND'S SECOND ESSAY. 

^ ^ ^ 

DR. Firm Mind was the most prominent physician 
in RolHr4g- Meads. His services were also very 
frequently required by the officers of the State in the 
weighty affairs of the government. He was his Pas- 
tor's chief assistant in superintending the Sunday 
schools at Fountains of Streams. He was found at 
his post of duty there, and when absent, it was known 
that it was through no fault of his own, and that he 
was called to attend the duties of his large practice. 
The subject of his essay, which he read at the last con- 
vention, had been publicly announced for several 
months, and reported over the country at every public 
gathering, and much talked about. The subject was 
in itself sufficient to attract the utmost attention of the 
people. Besides, it was the first opportunity the pub- 
lic ever had to hear an essay from the good doctor 
of Rolling Meads. This time the house was crowded 
with devoted listeners. More than two-thirds of his 
audience was from abroad. People representing all 
beliefs and connections, were present from the sur- 
rounding country, its towns and cities. The doctor's 
skill and honesty were undisputed. Few were there 
who had not witnessed his skillful treatment in their 
families or neighborhood. 

Nevertheless, when they heard him attack the 
abuses of their beloved institution, the Public Schools, 



88 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

their county's boast and honor, and charging it with 
the chief cause of crime, some became so frantic, they 
could scarcely keep quiet. Son:c thought that there 
were other sources of crime equally if not more pro- 
ductive than the corruptions and wrongs in the school 
system. But they failed to consider that all other 
sources were concentered in the fact that the mind in 
the public schools zvas not instructed and equipped 
against all crime. 

Yet, the more substantial part of the audience 
were convinced that the doctor was correct. While 
many church members concluded, that they could no 
longer send their children to the public schools with 
a good conscience. This essay remained the public 
sensation of the day for a long time, and the public 
was anxious to hear him again. The old pioneer men 
and women of the congregation, who were companions 
of father Fair Mind, the founder of Fountains of 
Streams, talked the essay over and over again. Old 
and decrepit with age as they were, it seemed to give 
them a lighter step, and they wept tears of joy as the 
doctor's essay reminded them of the blessed days of 
their childhood and the good old parochial schools of 
their fathers ; and now they rejoiced and were exceed- 
ing glad to see that the public schools were about to be 
established on the same foundation at Fountains of 
Streams. Men and women talked on the subject of 
the doctor's essay at their work ; it was the topic of 
conversation at every social circle of young- people 
in all the country round ; it was discussed by bankers, 
merchants and men of everv trade : and even the little 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 89 

children wrangled about it at their play. It solicited 
the serious consideration of the statesmen of the day, 
and changed their sentiments for political preferment. 

As the Sunday School Teachers' Association at 
Fountains of Streams in Rolling Meads had now been 
fully organized, after the building of the large new 
church, with its large auditorium and spacious school 
rooms, it was determined that the doctor should be 
the first on the list to read another essay, and have 
an opportunity to furnish testimony in proof of his 
first paper. It was resolved that this essay should 
be read in the afternoon, on the day appointed for 
the dedication of the new church and school build- 
ings. A festive character was for this reason given 
to the exercises, and a program was pubhshed several 
weeks previous. 

How these weary weeks dragged their slow 
strides heavily along ! The glorious day of dedica- 
tion and festivity, and the desire to hear the doctor, 
was awaited with anxious suspense and much solici- 
tude by the devoted heads upon whom devolved the 
care of the Httle ones. 

May's sweet blossoms, the first born infants of 
the spring, had long since been strewn by the wild 
winds over the bosom of the earth, and June's full 
blown roses were busy casting their delicious fra- 
grance on every breeze, and fields of clover blossoms 
scented the air, while clusters of red-cheeked cherries 
were playing hide and seek among the branches, 
and little boys and girls were trying to climb up and 
catch them. The busv bees could be heard hum- 



90 Fonutaiiis of Streams and Public Schools. 

ming- on every side, gathering honey for their winter's 
store. All nature was a fair emblem of peace and 
quiet industry, and cheered the gathering crowds on 
their way to the dedication with its loveliness, and 
mimicked paradise with its pathos. 

The doors of the church and school buildings 
attached, were open to visitors on the day when they 
were dedicated. These semces took place in the 
forenoon, and suitable preparations were provided 
to refresh the guests at noon. At the proper hour 
the multitudes came together, and after the intro- 
ductory service of reading a portion of Scripture and 
prayer, interspersed with instrumental and vocal mu- 
sic, assisted by the new grand pipe organ, was over, 
the essayist presented himself before the vast audi- 
ence, and read his second essay. 

"Christian People and Fellow Citizens I — In my 
first essay, I based my remarks on the statement, 
that the chief cause of crime in this country, was 
the neglect at tJw state to make use of the only 
proper means to prevent it. I stated that these means 
were Christian instruction, the Bible in the public 
schools. The essay maintained that this was neces- 
sary to make good citizens and good government. 
I am now asked to furnish proof for my proposition, 
from the greatest educators and statesmen of modern 
times. But before I proceed. I wish to impress your 
minds with the fact, that the tend^aicy of our times 
is to exclude the Bible from the public schools, and as 
it has been excluded crime has increased. All re- 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 91 

spect, therefore, for those who desire to return to 
the good old laws and principles of our forefathers. 

In a paper of wide circulation in the state of 
Indiana we read : 'Religion in the Public Schools. 
— In view of the strenuous efforts to introduce the 
teaching of the Protestant religion in the public 
schools and the employment of teachers who would 
declare they were Christians, State Superintendent 
Greeting has written the following, addressed to a 
La Porte citizen : Replying to your favor of recent 
date, will say that under the laws of this state at pres- 
ent there is no requirement either professionally or 
educationally for county and city superintendents. 
A superintendent of schools does not have any right 
to inquire into the religious belief of any of his teach- 
ers. He does have a right, however, to say that they 
shall not teach religion of any character zvhatever in 
the schools.' — Goshen Dem., May 5, 1897. This is 
the position now generally assumed by the authori- 
ties throughout the country. And hence the great 
increase of crime of every description. 

I now proceed to prove that the laws of our 
country endorse the Christianity of Protestantism, 
and require the Bible to be taught in the public 
schools. Congress, on October 12, 1778, passed this 
resolution: 'Whereas, true religion and good morals 
are the only solid foundation of public liberty and 
happiness ; 

Resolved, That it be and it is hereby earnestly 
recommended to the several states to take the most 
effectual measures for the encouragement thereof.' 



92 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

Another resolution on the /th of March, 1778, ap- 
points a day of fasting and prayer to God, that among 
other blessings 'it may please Him to bless our schools 
and seminaries of learning, and make them nurseries 
of true piety, virtue and useful knozvledge.' 

In the third article of the famous Ordinance of 
1778, for the whole Xorthwest, the Government 
affirmed : 'Religion, morality, and knowledge being 
necessary to good government, and the happiness of 
mankind, schools and the means of education shall 
forever be encouraged.' Xow, the Government has 
never acknowledged any other religion but the Chris- 
tian religion. It never writes a date without putting 
it in the year of our Lord. Every week of legisla- 
tion or holding court in the whole country recognizes 
the Lord's day, simply because the great majority 
of the people are Christians, and observe that day. 
Every session of congress is opened with the Protest- 
ant chaplain's prayer. Puritans, Hollanders and 
Huguenots emigrated to this country to establish a 
free Christian nation. In the preamble or consti- 
tution of all the colonies, are found words of the 
same import with these in the constitution of the 
colony of Connecticut : 'The Scriptures hold forth 
a perfect rule for the direction and government of 
all men in all duties which they are to perform to 
God and man, as well in families and conimmiwealths, 
as in matters of the church.' And this same senti- 
ment pervades the preambles and constitutions of all 
the original states. In reviewing these facts Presi- 
dent Stiles, of Yale College, said in 1783: 'It is 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 93 

certain they assumed in thus laying the foundations 
of a new state, to make it a model for the religious 
kingdom of Christ.' 

Benjamin Franklin declared in congress : 'That 
since God governs in the affairs of men, I move that 
henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of heaven 
and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this 
assembly every morning before we proceed to busi- 
ness.' When asked in France what was the secret 
of statesmanship, he replied : 'He who shall introduce 
into public affairs the principles of primitive Chris- 
tianity will change the face of the world/ About his 
religion he wrote to Dr. Stiles, President of Yale, 
as follows : 'You desire to know something of my 
religion. It is the first time I have been questioned 
upon it. But I cannot take your curiosity amiss, and 
shall endeavor in a few words to gratify it. Here 
is my creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of 
the universe. That He governs it by His Provi- 
dence. That He ought to be worshipped. That the 
most acceptable service we render to Him is doing 
good to His other children. That the soul of man 
is immortal, and will be treated with justice in an- 
other life respecting its conduct in this. These I take 
to be the fundamental points in all sound religion, 
and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet 
with them. — As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of 
whom you particularly desire, I think His system of 
morals and His religion, as He left them to us, the 
best the world ever saw or is like to see.' Vol. X, 
p. 422, Sparks' Ed. 



94 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

George Washington declared: 'It is impossible 
to govern the world without God. It is the duty of 
all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty 
God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, 
and humbly implore His protection and favor ; and 
of this nation most of all.' 

In his Farewell Address he gave the following 
warning: 'Of all the dispositions and habits which 
lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are 
indispensable supports. In vain would that man 
claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to 
subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these 
purest proofs of the duties of men and citizens. The 
mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought 
to respect and cherish them. A volume could not 
trace all their connections with private and public 
felicity. Let it simply be asked : Where is the security 
for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of 
religious ohligation desert the oath, which are the in- 
struments of investigation in Courts of Justice? 
Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that 
national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious 
principle.' 

Xow, if the state has any right to command the 
oath, it has the same right, and comes under the 
highest obligation, to provide for and appoint such 
teachings ; that the citizens may know their commonest 
forms of duty, and be prepared for their sincere and 
intelligent performance. But the "sense of religious 
obligation" must desert their oaths, if men are not 
taught those religious truths, by which only the 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 95 

oath can be understood in its sacredness, and in the 
knowledge of which alone it is worth anything. 

Thomas Jefferson's testimony is reported by Ran- 
dall, who says : 'Had the wishes of Thomas Jefferson 
been fulfilled, the symbol borne on our national seal 
would have contained our public profession of Chris- 
tianity as a nation.' 

Andrew Jackson, pointing to the Bible, said: 
'That Book, sir, is the rock on which our republic 
rests.' 

Daniel Webster testifies : 'Lastly, our ancestors 
established this system of government on morality 
and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believe,, 
can not safely be trusted to any other foundation than 
religious principles, nor any government be secure 
which is not supported by moral habits. Living under 
the heavenly light of revelation, they hoped to find 
all the social dispositions, all the duties which men 
owe to each other and to society, enforced and per- 
formed. Whatever makes men good Christians, 
makes them good citizens. — The love of religious 
liberty is a stronger sentiment, when fully excited,, 
than an attachment to civil and political freedom. 
That freedom which the conscience demands, and 
which men feel bound by their hope of salvation to- 
contend for, can hardly fail to be attained. Conscience 
in the cause of religion and the worship of the Deity 
prepares the mind to act and suffer beyond most 
other causes. It sometimes gives an impulse so irre- 
sistible that no fetters of power or of opinion can 
withstand it. History instructs us that this love of 



96 Fountains of Streams aiid Public Schools. 

religious liberty — a compound sentiment in the breast 
of men, made up of the clearest sense of right, and 
the highest conviction of duty — is able to look the 
sternest despotism in the face, and, with means ap- 
parently most inadequate, to shake principalities and 
powers. 

On the subject of taxation for education he said: 
'A\'e seek to prevent, in some measure, the extension 
of tJie penal code, by inspiri]ig a salutary and conser- 
vative principle of z'irtue ajid of knozi'ledge in an early 
age. By general instruction, we seek as far as possi- 
ble to purify the whole moral atmosphere; to keep 
good sentiment uppermost, and to turn the strong 
current of feeling and opinion, as well as the censures 
of the law and the denunciations of religion, against 
immorality and crime. We hope for a security be- 
yond the law, and above the law, in the prevalence of 
enlightened and well-principled moral sentiment. We 
hope to continue and to prolong the time, when in 
the villages and farm-houses of Xew England there 
may be undisturbed sleep within unbarred doors.' 

These words were well weighed, deliberate and 
well considered. The occasion on which they were 
delivered, was the revision of the Constitution of Mas- 
sachusetts. They are decisive as to the power and 
duty of a state to provide a religious education for 
her children, if an education at all. Further he said: 
'I rejoice that every man in this community can call 
all property his own. so far as he has occasion for 
it to furnish for himself and his children the blessings 
of religious instruction, and the elements of knowl- 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 97 

edge. This celestial and this earthly light he is en- 
titled to by the fundamental laws. It is every poor 
man's undoubted birthright; it is the great blessing 
which this Constitution has secured to him ; it is his 
solace in life, and it may well be his consolation in 
death, that his country stands pledged by the faith 
which it has plighted to all its citizens, to protect his 
children from ignorance, barbarism, and vice.' 

If the state has a right to levy a tax on its citi- 
zens for the expenses of such an education, it stands 
pledged to afford the children of the citizens all that 
is essential to their welfare. 

The very last time that Daniel Webster appeared 
on the stage in Faneuil Hall, in Boston, he spoke 
words on popular education that ought to be inscribed 
over the door of every school-house in America : 
'We seek to educate the people. We seek to im- 
prove men's moral and religious condition. In short, 
we seek to work upon mind as well as upon matter. 
And in working on the mind, it enlarges the human 
intellect and the human heart. We know that when 
we work upon materials, immortal and imperishable, 
that they will bear the impress which we place upon 
them, through endless ages to come. If we work 
upon marble, it will perish ; if we work upon brass, 
time will efface it. If we rear temples, they will 
crumble to dust. But if we work on men's immortal 
minds — if we imbue them with high principles, with 
the just fear of God, and of their fellow men — we 
engrave on those tablets something which no time 



98 Fotmtains of Streams and Public- Schools. 

can efface, but which will brighten and brighten to 
all eternity.' 

To the sophistry, that the Christian religion is 
a .sectarian thing, he replied : 'My learned friend has 
referred with propriety to one of the commandments 
of the Decalogue ; but there is another, a first com- 
mandment, and that is a precept of religion, and it 
is in subordination to this that the moral precepts of 
the Decalogue are proclaimed. This first great com- 
mandment teaches man that there is one, and only 
one, great first cause, one, and only one, proper ob- 
ject of human worship. This is the great, the ever 
fresh, the overflowing fountain of all revealed truth ; 
without it, human life is a desert, of no known ter- 
mination on any side, but shut in on all sides by 
a dark and impentrable horizon. Without the light 
of this truth, man knows nothing of his origin, and 
nothing of his end. And when the Decalogue was 
delivered to the Jews, with this great announcement 
and command at its head, what said the inspired law- 
giver? That it should be kept from children? That 
it should be reserved as a communication fit only for 
mature age? Far, far otherwise. 'And those words, 
which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart. 
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto 
THY CHILDREN ; and shalt talk of them when thou sit- 
test in thine house, and when thou walkest by the 
way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest 
up.' — There is an authority still more imposing and 
awful. When little children were brought into the 
presence of the Son of God, His disciples proposed 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 99 

to send them away ; but He said, Suffer little children 
to come unto me. Unto me; He did not send them 
first for lessons in morals to the schools of the Phari- 
sees or to the unbelieving Sadducees, nor to read 
the precepts and lessons phylacteried on the garments 
of the Jewi^!i Priesthood ; He said nothing of different 
creeds or dashing doctrines, but He opened at once 
to the youthful mind the everlasting fountain of liv- 
ing waters, the only source of eternal truths : Suffer 
little children to come unto me. And that injunction 
is of perpetual obligation. It addresses itself to-day 
with the same earnestness and the same authority 
which attended its first utterance to the Christian 
world. It is of force everywhere, and at all times. 
It extends to the ends of the earth, it will reach to 
the end of time, always and everywhere sounding 
in the ears of men, with an emphasis which no repeti- 
tion can weaken, and with an authority which nothing 
can supersede, Suffer little children to come unto me. 
Before man knows his origin and destiny, he 
knows that he is to die. Then comes that most urgent 
and solemn demand for light that ever proceeded, or 
can proceed, from the profound and anxious brood- 
ings of the human soul. // a man die, shall he live 
again? And that question, nothing but God, and the 
religion of God, can solve. Religion does solve it, 
and teaches every man that he is to live again, and 
that the duties of this life have reference to the life 
which is to come. And hence, since the introduction 
of Christianity, it has been the duty as it has been 
the effort of the great and good, to sanctify human 
LofC. 



100 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

knowledge, to bring it to the fount, and to baptize 
learning into Christianity; to gather up all its pro- 
ductions, its earliest and its latest, its blossoms and 
its fruits, and lay them all upon the altar of religion 
and virtue.' 

'There is such a multitude of sects, and such 
diversity of opinion, that the opponents will exclude 
all religion ! That is the objection urged by all the 
lower and more vulgar schools of infidelity through- 
out the world; As though the abuse of a thing de- 
stroyed its use. 

Hugh ]\Iiller says on the subject: 'The Govern- 
ment that should imprison with punishment or death 
the man whose only crime was, that he had given a 
morsel of bread to a dying beggar or rescued some 
unhappy human being who was in danger of perishing 
in the pit into which he had fallen, would be held 
to have violated the rights of man, if the person so 
punished was a subject of its own, and the rights of 
nations, if he was the subject of another state. But 
does not that Government as really violate the rights 
of man, and the laws of Christian nations, which 
says, you shall not give a copy of the Bible to a 
human being, however desirous he may be to know 
the will of his Maker, and however much he mav feel 
that his eternal welfare depends on knowing that will ? 
The Government that should act thus would so vio- 
late the first right of conscience and the first duties 
of man, and so uproot the foundations of society, as 
to place itself beyond the pale of civilized nations ; 
it oug^ht to be declared an outlaw. — a nation at war 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 101 

with the eternal principles of duty and right, and en- 
titled to exact no regard or obedience to its laws/ 

Chancellor Kent said in 1811 : ''Christianity in its 
enlarged sense as a religion taught and revealed in 
the Bible, is not unknown to our law." In this de- 
cision all the judges of the Supreme Court of the United 
States were agreed. He also said in the same de- 
cision : That the Christian religion was the law of the 
land, in the sense that it was preferred over all other re- 
ligions, and entitled to the recognition and protection 
of the temporal courts as the common law of the land, 
and that this was the first meaning of the constitution. 
The general diffusion of the Bible is the most effectual 
zvay to civilize mankind and exalt the general system 
of public morals ; to give efficacy to the just precepts of 
constitutional law; to enforce the observance of pru- 
dence, temperance, justice and fortitude; and to im- 
prove all the relations of domestic and social life. 

Chief Justice Story, the great expounder of the 
Constitution says : 'It is notorious that even to this day 
in some foreign countries, it is a crime to speak on 
any subject, religious, philosophical, or political, what 
is contrary to the received opinions of the Govern- 
ment, or the institutions of the country, however 
laudable may be the design, and however virtuous may 
be the motive. Even to animadvert upon the conduct 
of public men, or rulers, or of representatives, in terms 
of the strictest truth and courtesy, has been and is 
deemed a scandal upon the supposed sanctity of their 
stations and characters, subjecting the party to griev- 
ous punishment. In some countries no works can be 



102 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

printed at all, whether of science, or literature, or phil- 
osophy, without the previous approbation of the Gov- 
ernment ; and the press has been shackled, and com- 
pelled to speak only in the timid language which the 
cringing courtier, or the capacious inquisitor has been 
willing to license for publication. The Bible itself, 
the common inheritance, not merely of Christendom, 
but of the world, has been put exclusively under the 
control of Government ; and has not been allowed to 
be seen, or heard, or read, except in a language un- 
known to the common inhabitants of the country-. 
To publish a translation in the vernacular tongue, has 
been in former times a flagrant offence.' Story on the 
Constitution p. 263. 

•" ' Such a systemi is contrary to our fundamental 
Taws protecting the freedom of speech and the liberty 
of the press. And the attempt to exclude the Bible 
from the public schools is based an^d has its origin m- 
the despotisms of the darkest ages of the world, 
judge Story says that the Bible is the 'common in- 
heritance of Christendom and of the world,' and 'the 
things that are revealed belong to us and to our chil- 
dren forever.' Then those who would conceal and 
withdraw it from the world — those who would put 
it under the ban or exclude it from the public schools 
and forbid it to be read, are the common pirates and 
highway robbers of Christendom and of the world. 
They might with as much propriety, dispute the com^ 
mon highway of the seas. These principles are funda- 
mental in our Government. Its power and authority 
is therefore iustlv exerted to shield to the uttermost 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. lOS 

fliose wo are engaged in carrying the Bible to other 
lands. 

He further says that 'religion and morality are 
Intimately connected with the well-being of the State, 
and indispensable to the administration of civil justice. 
The promulgation of the great doctrines of religion, 
the being and attributes and providence of one Al- 
mighty God ; the responsibility to Him for all our 
actions, founded upon moral accountability ; a future 
state of rewards and punishments ; the cultivation of 
all the personal, social, and ben'evolent'virtues ;^these 
can never be a matter of indifference in any well- 
ordered community. It is" indeed difficult to conceive 
how any civilized society can well exist without them. 
And, at all events, it is impossible for those who be- 
lieve in the truth of Christianity as a Divine revelation, 
to doubt that it is the especial duty of Government 
to foster and encourage it among all the citizens and 
subjects. This is a point wholly distinct from that of 
the right of private judgment iii matters of religion 
and of the freedom of public worship, according to the 
dictates of one's conscience.' 

In the sixth article of the Constitution of the 
Board of National Popular Education, there is required 
from all the teachers 'the daily use of the Bible in their 
several schools, as the basis of that sound Christian 
education, to the support and extension of which the 
Board is solemnly pledged.' From the Fifth Annual 
Report of this Board, we select the following para- 
graphs from a speech by Mr. Sawtell, at the Anni- 
versary in Cleveland in 1852. The Bible for the 



104 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

masses, he truly proclaims, is God's great instrument 
for governnig men and nations. The Bible for the mill- 
ions of the young. 

"There is but one alternantive. God will have 
men and nations governed; and they must be gov- 
erned by one of the two instruments — a)i opoi Bible, 
with its hallowed influences, or a standing arniy z^nth 
bristling bayonets. One is the product of God's wis- 
dom, the other, of man's folly; and that nation or 
people that dare discard, or will not yield to the moral 
power of the one, must submit to the brute force of 
the other. Herein do we discover the secret of our 
ability to govern ourselves. Just so long, and no 
longer, than we preserve the open Bible in our schools, 
shall we be capable of self-government. From this 
despised and proscribed book, which God has given to 
illumine the path of every man, emanate the light and 
the power that control the American mind in every 
emergency. Tens of thousands of voters have been 
blessed with pious mothers, who taught them in the 
nursery, the Sunday school, public schools, 'when they 
went out and when they came in,' the lessons which 
bring ' peace on earth and good will to man.' ' 

Connecticut established the law as early as 1656, 
'that all their children and apprentices as they grow 
capable, may, through God's blessing, attain at least 
so much as to be able duly to read the Scriptures, and 
in some competent measure to understand the main 
grounds and principles of the Christian religion neces- 
sary to salvation.' The editor of the School Journal 
of this State savs : Tn manv schools, in later vears, the 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 105- 

Bible has not been used ; though there is reason to 
beheve that the ancient custom of our venerable an- 
cstors has recently been gradually reviving. Circum- 
stances has favored its restoration ; and increasing 
light on the principles of sound education cannot fail 
to establish it everywhere. — We have seen different 
teachers use the Bible in dilTferent ways ; some as a 
class-book, some as a text-book. Some teachers with a 
map of Palestine before them, will give most interest- 
ing lessons on almost any book in the Bible, by ming- 
ling geography, history, ancient manners and customs,^ 
with moral and religious considerations. Others 
make the Bible the law book of the school ; and by 
showing that they consider themselves and their pupils 
equally bound to conform their lives and thoughts to. 
its sacred dictates, exercise a species of discipline of 
the happiest kind. Others still by the aid of printed 
questions, or some systematic plan of study, employ 
the Bible in training the intellect, storing the mem- 
ory, and furnishing the fancy with the richest treasures 
of literature. Others think that the various styles 
found in the sacred volume, ofifer the very best exer- 
cises for practice in reading with propriety and efifect ; 
while critical attention to the character, situation, and 
feelings of the speakers, which such exercises require, 
has favorable moral influences. Finally, other teach- 
ers believe that the daily reading of the Bible in 
schools, is of essential benefit to the pupils in various 
ways ; and that the frequent repetition of the Word of 
God in the hearing even of those too young to read, 
is an inestimable blessing — a part of the birthright of 



106 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

every child in a Christian land, which cannot be right- 
fully withholden.' 

" Chancellor Kent says of Connecticut : 'The 
■avowed object of emigration to New England was to 
ehjoy and propagate the Reformed, Protetsant faith 
in the purity of its discipline and worship. They in- 
tended to found republics on the basis of Christianity, 
and to secure religious liberty under the auspices of a 
Commonwealth. With this primary view they were 
early led to make strict provision for common school 
education, and the religious instruction of the people. 
The Word of God was at that time almost the sole 
•object of their solicitude and studies, and the principal 
design in planting themselves on the banks of the 
Connecticut was \o preserve the liberty and purity 
of the Gospel. Strict and accurate provision was made 
by law for the support of common schools in the 
earliest of the colonial records. And their blessings 
never were surpassed in the annals of mankind.' 

The constitution of Ohio in harmony with those 
of other states and the general government, in the 
third section of its Bill of Rights of 1802, says on this 
subject : 'Religion, morality and knowledge, however, 
Toeing essential to good government, it shall be the 
duty of the General Assembly to pass suitable laws 
to protect every religious denomination in the peace- 
able enjoyment of its own mode of worship, and to 
encourage schools and the means of instruction.' 

Ohio established the university of Athens in 1802 
by a law which reads : 'For the instruction of youth 
in all the various branches of the liberal arts and 



■'I K 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 107 

sciences, for the promotion of good education, virtue, 
religion and morality.' And in 1809 for the Miami Uni- 
versity they estabHshed that it should be 'for the in- 
struction of youth in all the various branches of the 
liberal arts and sciences, for the promotion of good 
education, virtue, religion and morality.' 

Here the state demands by law, that in these 
public schools of the state, religion, virtue, piety and 
morality are to be carefully taught. These acts were 
passed when the constitution was fresh in the people's 
minds, one a few months before its adoption. The 
men who made our law, understood, that thescthings 
could be taught consistently with the rights of con- 
science. 

The power of the state to make provision for 
religious instructron in its own schools was never 
once questioned by our fathers, and cannot be ques- 
tioned on any reasonable ground whatever. The 
g-eneral government and all the people of the state 
approved of the law. No conscience was ofifended or 
deprived of its rights and interests in these institutions. 
The plea that the Bible in the public schools is an of- 
fense to a good conscience is a plea of maliciousness. 

If religion be at all desirable to form a good char- 
acter, it ought to be taught to the child, when the 
mind is developing and is most open to the reception 
01 religious impressions, before the slumbering pas- 
sions have been aroused to nourish hate, revenge, un- 
godly ambition, the promptings of evil appetites, when 
the preparations must be made and while they can 
be made for the succeeding struggle between inclina- 



108 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

tion upon one hand and duty upon the other ; ci 
struggle in which none can engage with confidence of 
victory, except they who are panoplied with the whole 
armor of God. So the people themselves understood 
and interpreted these laws, and for more than tw^enty 
years prior to the adoption of the present constitution 
acted upon their requirements. They knew that re- 
ligious instruction was a part of the system, and hence 
the Bible was daily read and taught in the schools of 
the state. 

The Courts must always construe a written docu- 
ment as the parties have understood it. for that is valid 
evidence of the intention. So the construction which 
the people of a state put upon its own laws, and on 
which they act. will be regarded by every sane court 
the world over, as of the greatest significance, especi- 
ally where this has been general and unquestioned. 

Swan and Co., p. 447 gives an act of the Ohio 
Legislature which Judge Thurman called 'a mere civil 
regulation." It was passed February 17th, 1831, as 
an 'act to prevent certain immoral practices.* The 
fourth section reads : 'That if any person of the age of 
fourteen years and upward, shall purposesly curse or 
damn, or profanely swear by the name of God, Jesus 
Christ, or the Holy Ghost, he shall be punished.' On 
p. 911 section five of the Penitentiary act we read con- 
cerning the employment of chaplain : 'That he shall 
be a minister of the Gospel in good standing in some 
one of the denominations of the state' and that 'he shall 
devote his entire time and ability to the welfare of the 
convicts.' 



Mr. Finn Mind's Second Essay. 109 

No one of sound sense will question the fact, that 
these laws mean that the Christian religion is to be 
taught in the public schools. No other religion is 
known or recognized by the laws of the state of Ohio 
or any other state in the union. For no other re- 
ligion recognizes it as profanity to swear by the name 
of Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or punishes the 
violation of the Lord's day. Here the religion to be 
taught in the public schools is expressly defined to be 
the Christian religion. 

These laws were not made merely for the public 
peace and welfare for the time being ; they were made 
as the foundation of the common school system and 
of the state itself. For it is a political maxim that a 
republic is dependent upon the virtue and intelligence 
of its citizens. It is upon this ground that the state 
assumes the right to educate its youth. It recognizes 
this as of supreme importance and overwhelming 
necessity. Nothing else could justify the levying of 
a tax for school purposes. Viewed in any other 
light the state has no more right to assess such a tax 
than it would have to assess a tax to provide food and 
raiment for all the children of the state. Intelligence, 
virtue, religion and morality the state holds are nec- 
essary to make good citizens. Intelligence without 
religion is known to be a positive evil. It only in- 
creases the power to do evil. This truth combines 
inseparably religion and science in the estimation 
of all honest teachers and wise statesmen. The right 
of the state to give secular instruction can not be ad- 
mitted, if you on the same principle deny its right to 



110 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

give religious instruction. They stand or fall to- 
gether by the same principle of argument. The leg- 
islature can not prohibit the exercise of the Christian 
religion, because the history of the country and the 
state, the social life of the people have made it nec- 
essary and established it. The legislature, however, 
has the power to prohibit idolatry by law. It can 
and must prohibit the erection of pagan temples. 

Now religion is required by law to be taught 
in the public schools for the purpose that it may ser\"e 
the state, to the end that the pupils may become in- 
telligent and virtuous citizens, competent to discern 
the path of duty in all the relations of life. The wel- 
fare of each citizen and of society as a whole, de- 
pends upon the ties of morality and virtue. There 
can be no pablic jury or office of trust without the 
religious oath. The state and religion are thus in- 
separably and essentially connected with each other 
in the same foundation, and are necessary to each 
other's existence and prosperity. There never was 
a state in existence that continued any length of time 
without the bonds of religious principles. 

Yet the object, sphere, means and ends of the 
state and religion are widely different. The object 
of the state is and ought to be merely good external 
government. To secure this end it has declared in 
its laws, because experience teaches the fact, that 
'religion, morality and knowledge are necessary.' 

Judge Cooly, of the Supreme Court of Michigan, 
in his important work on Constitutional Limitations, 
chap. 13, p. 467, most clearly states the position of 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 1X1 

Ml our lazvs on this subject: 'He who will examine 
with care the American Constitutions, will find noth- 
ing more fully or plainly expressed than the desire 
of their framers to preserve and perpetuate religious 
liberty, and to guard against the slightest approach 
towards inequaHty of civil or political rights, based 
on difference of religious belief. Those things which 
are not lawful under any American constitution may 
be stated thus : 

1. Any law respecting an establishment of re- 
ligion is not allowed. The legislatures have not been 
left at liberty to effect a union of church and state, 
or to establish preferences by law in favor of any one 
religious (Christian) denomination or mode of wor- 
ship. There is not religious liberty where any one 
sect is favored by the state and given advantage by 
law over other sects. Whatever establishes a dis- 
tinction against one class or sect is, to the extent to 
which the distinction operates unfavorably, a perse- 
cution ; and, if based on religious grounds, is reli- 
gious persecution. It is not toleration established in 
our system, but religious equality. 

2. Compulsory support by taxation or other- 
wise, of religious instruction is unlawful. Not only 
is no one denomination to be favored at the expense 
of the rest, but all support of religious instruction 
must be entirely voluntary. 

3. Compulsory attendance upon reHgious wor- 
ship is unlawful. Whoever is not led by choice or 
a sense of duty to attend upon the ordinances of re- 
ligion, is not to be compelled to do so by the state. 



112 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

The state will seek, so far as practicable to enforce 
the obligations and duties which the citizen may owe 
to his fellow citizen, but those which he owes to his 
Maker are to be enforced by the admonitions of con- 
science, and not by the penalties of human laws.' 
Again he says : Tt is frequently said that Christianity 
is a part of the law of the land. In a certain sense, 
and for certain purposes, this is true. But the law 
does not attempt to enforce the precepts of Chris- 
tianity on the ground of their sacred character or 
divine origin. Some of those precepts are univers- 
ally recognized as being incapable of enforcement 
by human laws, notwithstanding they are of continual 
obligation. Christianitv, therefore, is not a part of 
the law of the land, in the sense that would entitle 
the courts to take notice of and base their judgments 
upon it, except so far as they should find that its 
precepts had been incorporated in and thus become 
a component part of the law.' 

And it has 'become a component part of the 
law' to have Christianity taught in the schools. Only 
this is not to be done by a sect, or by direct taxation. 
The taxation is indirect, and supports Christianity 
in general, because its precepts are so imbedded into 
the laws of the state, that you cannot exclude them, 
without absolutely overthrowing all government and 
committing treason to the state itself. In the laws 
of the land it is not the church that seeks anything 
from the state, but the state seeks something of the 
church. The state seeks succor from religion, not 
for the safety of souls, but for the good of the public 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 113 

society of the state. 'The state,' says Lord Coke, 
'adapted itself to the rehgion of the country just so 
far as was necessary for the peace and safety of civil 
institutions, but it took cognizance of offences against 
God only when, by their inevitable effects, they be- 
came offences against man and his temporal security.' 
And for this object it is to be taught in the public 
schools. 

The great and main object of the state in estab- 
lishing schools is to prevent crime and depravity, and 
for this reason the constitution declares that religion 
is essential to good government, and makes the dec- 
laration a reason for the establishment of Christian 
precepts and morals to be taught and practiced in its 
schools. For the whole structure of the state and 
society rests upon the foundation of its laws and 
precepts. Human laws can have no permanence 
without the sanction of religious sentiment, without 
recognizing that there is a power above us that will 
reward our virtues and punish our sins. Christianity 
was the religion of the founders of our republic, and 
they expected it to remain to their descendants. They 
made religion free to all. Making a thing free is as 
truly a part of legislation as confining it by limita- 
tions ; and what government has made free it must 
keep free. 

The fathers who made our laws were true lovers 
of liberty, and opposed to all constraints of rights 
of conscience. They had had enough of that. And 
yet they did not want to see the country without re- 
ligion. They never intended to prohibit the legis- 



114 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

lator in his public character from expressing his re- 
Hgious devotion in his laws. They sent their armies 
forth to do battle for their country under the public 
recognition of that God on whom success or failure 
depends. Thus the battles of the Revolution were 
fought and the deliberations of the Revolutionary 
congress conducted. All was done with a continual 
appeal to the Supreme Ruler of the world, and an 
habitual reliance on His protection for the righteous 
cause which they commended to His care. 

The Bible has a power which is to-day repre- 
sented by the intelligence of the civilized world, while 
all other systems of morality have fallen dead from 
the lips of their authors. Who to-day is controlled 
by the teachings of Seneca, of Plato, or Confucius? 
Who knows or cares in this country anything about 
them? There never was a system of morality that 
had any power to give it success and efficacy among 
the nations of the earth, except that embraced in the 
teachings of the Scriptures. The morahty of the 
Bible is the morality of all our state constitutions. 
Religion first, morality second and knowledge third, 
they all declare to be essential to good government, 
and therefore schools and the means of instruction 
are to be encouraged. The Christian world holds 
it as a fundamental truth, that religion is the only 
solid basis of morals, and that moral instruction not 
resting on this basis is only a building upon sand. 
This religion has been assailed by persecution, by 
corruption and power ; and yet it has spread and 
grown until it controls the religions and civil insti- 



Mr. Finn Mind's Second Essay. 115 

tutions of the civilized world. All that is pure in 
morals, all that is true in religion, all that is good 
in human affairs, we owe to its influence. 

If we compare Christian countries of the past 
and present, where the Bible is regularly taught to 
all the children, with pagan or heathen governments, 
we find that all evils of such Christian countries pre- 
vail among the heathen to an astonishingly greater 
degree, besides we find there innumerable evils un- 
known to Christian lands, so dreadful that it would 
have been beter, humanly speaking, if their people 
had never been born. What makes them differ? 
Why, the different character of Christianity from the 
regions which prevail in the barbarous countries of 
Turkey, Persia, India and China. And this differ- 
ence is actually reflected in their sacred books. Every 
government depends for its support on force or the 
consent of the governed. And no government, not 
even a despotism, can safely come in conflict with 
the religion of its people. Their morals are derived 
from and depend upon their religion. The sense of 
right and wrong is a reHgious sense. The sense of 
our duty to the state is derived from and subordinate 
to our sense of duty to religion. And this religious 
sense of the people is always reflected in the legisla- 
tive, judicial and executive branches of a government. 

Hence it is that the violation of Sunday is for- 
bidden by law, and blasphemy against God, Jesus 
Christ and the Holy Ghost, is made a statutory of- 
fense, and the requirements and limitations of reli- 
gion as adopted by law, is a part of our system of 



116 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

jurisprudence. Thus the ten commandments which 
relate to the duty of man to God and man, are re- 
flected in the laws of Ohio. The whole doctrine of 
charity administered by our courts of equity, comes 
from, the Christian religion, and was unknown on 
earth before the dawn of Christianity, and the same 
is true with all our reformatory and benevolent in- 
stitutions. The sessions of our legislatures and in- 
auguration of our executives are always preceded 
with prayer. Every year the people are called upon 
by the highest authorities of state to render thanks- 
givmg to Almighty God for the blessings of pros- 
perity they have enjoyed. When famine, pestilence 
or war afflict the nation, the people are called upon 
to humble themselves in fasting and prayer. 

Strike out all Christianity from the constitution 
and laws, withdraw its sanction and influence from 
the affairs of state, and hopeless anarchy and con- 
fusion would be the result. We know that Chris- 
tianity is not as a whole established by law, or re- 
garded as a church of the state. But the influence, 
sanction and authority of the Christian religion are 
recognized by the state as the bond of society, the 
basis upon which all our institutions rest, and essen- 
tial to good government and safety of the public. It 
gives the government the power to preserve order, 
protect life and property and regulate society, without 
even the semblance of military power. It is Chris- 
tianity that makes this service vital and eft'ective, 
because the religious sentiment prevails and is the 
basis of the morality of the state, on which basis 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 117 

alone the government can be secure. The conscience 
of Christianity is therefore more potent than standing 
armies, which are the resort of the most powerful 
despots. 

This is the power of true Christianity. In the 
United States the Hindoo mother, in the zeal of her 
religious enthusiasm, can not sacrifice her babe with- 
out being guilty and punished for infanticide, nor 
can she plead the rights of conscience against the 
penalty of the law. The Mohammedan can not here 
practice his belief in rehgious butchery, nor the Mor- 
mon his polygamy, without being subject to indict- 
ment and punishment. Even the atheist may not 
blaspheme the name of God, Jesus Christ or the Holy 
Ghost, whatever be his opinions, without punishment 
by law. On the other hand, a good Christian makes 
a good citizen. 

Statesmen of America perceived that the state 
emerges from and is upheld by society, and is there- 
fore subservient to its ends. The true office of the 
state is simply to secure public justice and peace, to 
guard against public wrong and disorder. It must 
keep the road clear for the footsteps of society, but 
is not to show it the way. It is to regulate the move- 
ments of- society, but not to set these movements 
into activity. It is to secure co-operation and har- 
mony between social elements, but not to create these 
elements or their laws of affinity. The state can dis- 
cover no truth, it can kindle no light, it can create 
no force ; it can induce no energy. The state can no 



118 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

more produce social energy than a machine can add 
to its motive power. 

The Scriptures are made by law indispens- 
able for every penal, reformatory and benevolent in- 
stitution. The law requires each prisoner to be sup- 
plied vrith a Bible. The warden of the penitentiary 
must furnish each criminal with one, and permit the 
Gospel to be preached to them, and so also with the 
house of refuge and reform schools. And all these 
institutions are supported by public taxation, without 
any violation of the rights of conscience ; because what 
is hereby accomplished every honest patriot desires. 

There are but two principles of power in govern- 
ment, the one is the virtue of the people that gets all 
its vitality from the Bible; the other is the sword. 
Every nation under the sun is governed by one or the 
other, or both these principles. The nation that 
throws away the support of religious prmciple, throws 
away the only enduring security of self-government 
for the masses,- and sooner or later must appeal to 
force, and come to naught. 

Bismarck, the great German statesman says : 
'Without a religious foundation, the state is only an 
accidental aggregate of rights ; a bulwark against the 
king; a bulwark of all against all. Its legislation will 
not be regenerated out of the original foundation of 
etcDuil linsdom, but stands on the shifting sands oi 
vague and changeable ideas of humanity.' 

It is terrible to think of the whirlpool of vice and 
crime that would deluge the country, if our govern- 
ment did not encourage religious teaching in its 



Mr. Firm Mind's Second Essay. 119 

schools, and protect all religious institutions, and pro- 
mote and defend their interests, by the strong hand of 
the law. It is self evident, that as the people neglect 
to make full use of these advantages secured to re- 
ligious instruction by the laws, simply because they 
are shy of the enemies of the Bible in our schools ; tlie 
religious sentiment will be scorned and virtue de- 
graded, and the gates of vice and crime will be left 
ajar, and the results will be the ruin of our beloved 
country. 

Huxley even, the great evolutionist, in a book en- 
titled 'Science and Education,' declared : 'My belief is, 
that no human being, and no society composed of 
human beings, ever did, or ever will, come to much, 
unless their conduct is guided and governed by the 
love of some ethical idea. And if I were compelled 
to choose for one of my own children, between a 
school in which real religious instruction is given, and 
one without it, I should prefer the former, even though 
the child might have to take a good deal of theology 
with it.' Again he says : 'I have always been strongly 
in favor of secular education in the sense of education 
without theology ; but I must confess I have been no 
less seriously perplexed to know by what practical 
measures the religious feeling, zvhich is the essential 
basis of conduct, was to be kept up, in the present 
utterly chaotic state of opinion on these matters, with- 
out the use of the Bible.' 

Hence it is plain, that it is nothing but fanaticism 
and a wild unbalanced judgment which would have the 
Bible taken from our little ones in the public schools. 



120 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

And it is only a proof of the absence of all conscience, 
to set up the plea of the rights of conscience against it. 

In conclusion would add, that no nation ever ex- 
isted without religion. To prove that our government 
was so founded, I refer to the unalterable foundation 
and chief comer-stone upon which the constitution 
and entire fabric of our government rest; which has 
given it life and existence — ^the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Here we read : ^We hold these truths to be 
self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they 
are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 
rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pur- 
suit of happiness.' This is a religious creed or declar- 
ation of faith, as much as any creed or confession of 
the church. Duties and rights in relation to God the 
Creator are firmly announced. The war of Independ- 
ence was the defense of a sacred trust, and was there- 
fore a duty of the highest obligation. Otherwise it 
would have been nothing else but treason. 1 cannot 
otherwise conclude, but that our government was 
founded in religion, and is therefore a religious gov- 
ernment ; that the religion our fathers meant, is the 
religion of the Holy Scriptures ; and that this does not 
imply any connection whatever with any established 
particular form of the Christian religion or church." 

The beautiful day was closing its eye in the west, 
when the multitude of gratified spectators wended 
their way homeward from the Fountains of Streams, 
while their souls were encouraged and strengthened 
with new zeal and patriotism for their beloved coun- 
try, their Bibles and their firesides. 



IMMORAL CHARACTER OF SCHOOL TEACHERS. 

/s /$^ ^ 

1"^ OWN by the river, a village nestled under the 
I J brow of a precipice. It was quite a market 
town for a wide scope of country, where a thriving 
business was on foot in all kinds of trade adapted to 
the wants of its customers and inhabitants. The many 
fine buildings lately erected and the improvements 
undertaken, made the villagers begin to look up in 
the world, and were doffing the old names of village 
and tozvn, and calling themselves by the more am- 
bitious name of city. 

It is winter, and the snow is falling thick and fast^ 
while the people keep in doors. There was the good 
old matron busy with her pots and kettles, and the 
men smoking their pipes around a cozy fireplace, as- 
the fire blazed up the hearth and the cold wind 
hummed a solemn tune around the chimney corner. 
The men of business in stores, groceries and saloons,, 
were sitting by the fire warming their shins and gos- 
siping with their few customers on the news of the 
day and politics. Near the corner of a square where- 
the road leads up through a ravine into the country, 
George Kraemer, a fat, pussy old Dutchman kept a 
restaurant, with which was connected a hotel of some 
pretensions. 

''Wod you know 'bond it," said the happy saloon 
keeper, and his enormous stomach shook as though 



122 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

it was padded with jelly, beer and laughter. The 
expression attracted the attention of several other vil- 
lagers who were in the habit of taking shelter there 
from the cold, to enjoy the congenial warmth of Krae- 
mer's social fires. Again he interrupted his guest, 
who attempted to resume his subject: "Done I know 
old Siyah Morven, dat old batch, dat comes here many 
dimes to git some schnapps, and warm hisself up? 
I tell you he was a midy good feller, and an honest 
man as ebber wos. He gone dide fur obber a year. 
He was Schon's brudder, dat got killed mit his 
fambly de odder nide up de gully out dare. Ole Siyah 
telled me hisself, dat he made a will, dat Schohn 
his brudder would get ebery dings he's got wenn he 
dide. So you see, I knowed all 'bond it. Dat's 
jusclit wod Schon was after day fore he got killt. It's 
an awful sorry fur dem folks." 

"I think it was the foulest murder that ever took 
place in all this region, to kill a whole family of harm- 
less people, wife and little children, and even the in- 
fant in the cradle. It was a good thing, however, that 
hie failed to get the money he was after, and I hope 
the strong arm of the law will soon overtake him, and 
give him the full payment for his crime," said a stern 
lookino^ old neio;hbor with resolution. "Yos sir, vos 
sir," said the irritated old jelly works, "dat isch wod 
I'm in fur ride away. De sooner de bedder." 

Just then a stranger happened to enter, which 
put an end to their conversation, and all were curious 
to know who he was. He was at least six feet in 
Iieight, with broad shoulders and powerful frame. He 



Immoral Character of School Teachers, 123 

took off his broad brimmed hat and shook off the 
snow into the fire. His dark shaggy eyebrows over- 
whelmed a pair of dark blue and piercing eyes. His 
countenance was very pleasing and his conversation 
very pleasant. He was one of those open characters 
who easily win the confidence of strangers. He car- 
ried such a pleasing smile on his face, it attracted the 
attention of the bystanders with eager curiosity to 
know something about his belongings. After makitig 
certain inquiries of the guests about the fire, old 
Kraemer, who continued to watch him closely and 
who was no tyro in judging human character, ex- 
ploded with laughter and replied : "Say strangcher, 
you can't fool us, you mide jusch as well come ride out. 
I know you'r dat detectiver after dat feller wot killed 
Schon Morven up de gulley dere, ha ! ha ! I know dat 
sure, now jusch come ride out mid it. AVod you wants 
here? You nod here fur noddings. You take some- 
dings to warm yousef up?" To all this the stranger, 
pulling off his gloves smilingly replied : '*I believe 1 
will take something, it is very cold. But you must 
all keep quiet about me boys. I don't want everyone 
to know I am here. I am on the track of that scoun- 
drel, and have him cornered in this town. It will not 
be many days till he will be cooped up." *'Dot isch 
jusht wod we wants, and we helps you all we kin," said 
Kraemer. "Now wod do you wants, (I nod scharge 
you anydings)." "Well, give me some gin. By the 
way, that scoundrel may turn up here any time, and 
I want you all to help us catch him." "Dat we do { We 
do dat! He bedder not come in my house. We all 



124 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

juscht go fur him. Say you hear dat? Wod make 
dat noise anyway ? Dere is somedings loose ad todder 
end de town. It sounds dat a way. I bet dey are 
after dat feller now," said the brave old Kraemer. 

The detective opened the door slyly and looked 
in the direction of the noise, and said: ''Sure enough,, 
that is the man. They are driving him this way. Now 
keep quiet and everyone stand to your breeding, and 
be ready to give me all the help you can. Old Krae- 
mer and his associates now saw danger ahead, as they 
saw the murderer keep his pursuers at bay. At every 
attempt the officers of the law made to close in upon 
him, bullets whistled among them. Two large re- 
volvers smoked in his hands as he brandished them 
in the air over his head. It was evident, that he was 
fighting every inch of his way. The bullets he fired 
at the brave little band told sad tales, several of whom 
were already severely wounded and had to be carried 
into dwelling houses. He was still well armed and 
supplied with cartridges. So they were at a loss what 
plan to pursue to overpower him without injury to 
him or themselves, for they wanted him alive. 

The detective at Kraemer"s, who had been a Cow- 
boy on the western plains and in Texas, ran out of the 
back door of the saloon and had made his way to the 
hardware store, where he purchased a rope of sufficient 
length and the proper quality, and prepared himself 
to rope in the murderer, ^^llen he returned to the 
saloon he told the four men and the jelly works to 
fight like men, because there were some in that very 
crowd helping the murderer to get away ; that they 



Immoral Character of School Teachers. 125 

should fall upon him and overpower him as soon as 
he pulled him to the ground with his rope. He took 
his stand at the corner of the building and gave the 
word to his men to shout and fall to, and thus drew 
the attention of the outlaw from him to the pursuers. 
As he came along in the center of the street brandish- 
ing his weapons, the rope of the Cowboy spun out 
upon the air from the corner of the building where he 
was posted, and as the coils were closing in upon 
him, there was a dreadful shout and onset by the 
crowd. But he dodged down into the snow and 
avoided the loop. Now the dutchman with his heroes 
fell to and made a rush upon him. There was a gen- 
eral hand to hand struggle in the snow, which in- 
creased as the crowd came up and joined in the fray. 
The dutch hero like the rest, sometimes underneath 
the struggling mass of human beings in the deep 
snow, sometimes he was tossed on top of the combat- 
ants like Sancho Pansa in the blanket. He was all cov- 
ered with snow, being thumped and pounded and his 
clothes almost tore off him, bellowing for dear life, 
and now only tried his best to get away as soon as he 
could. He was utterly disgusted at whom he thought 
were the detectives, preventing each other fromi taking 
and holding the criminal, each one he thought, wanted 
to have the honor of arresting him. Having disen- 
gaged himself, he now waddled into his quarters as 
fast as he could, like a goose half picked of its featliers. 
"''Schorge, mein Schorge, come ride in here dis minit 
mid your foolishness, gitteA yousef all tored to bieces 
dat a wa}^ Your close be noddings but batches all 



126 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

ober, wod you bodder yousef in dis a way ? Come in,'* 
said his devoted tender half. ''I pHeve you boud ride. 
Dem be de dummest detekdivers ebber wos, dey's 
know noddings bout ketchen en holden a feller ed all. 
Dey juscht pile on me en fide me all de time more'n 
dat ere feller. Dat made me mad, ha, ha ! You see 
me, how I schling dem fellers rown dere in de schnow? 
Dey foun' oud dey foolen mid de wrong feller wenn 
dey take hole on me," laughed the jelly works. 

Now many were running one way, some another, 
and the bullets were whistling over their heads. The 
friends of the criminal in tussling with the detectives 
enabled him to make his escape through a narrow 
alley into some old dilapidated buildings in the out- 
skirts of the village. He dropped one of his pistols 
in the struggle, which fell into the hands of the detec- 
tives. As the crowd was scattering, blowing their 
fingers and shaking ofif the snow his friends had an 
excellent opportunity to find a hiding place for him. 
The Cowboy had been helpless during the entire 
fracas, he was altogether tangled and tied into a ball 
with his own rope, which he intended for the criminal. 
After some assistance he rose to his feet, and with the 
rope still about him made his way to his old quarters 
at Kraemer's, with a smile on his face. 

His force was soon with him in consultation, and 
the old shanties, as they were called, were soon placed 
under guard. For six days they watched with the 
strictest vigilance. During this time the officers of 
the law so increased their force, they were like a wall 
round about the shanties. Now, every one wanted 



Immoral Character of School Teachers. 127 

to help. A command was issued, that in ten minutes 
all should begin to close in upon and closely search 
every nook and corner. They worked a few hours 
in this way like beavers, when suddenly they heard a 
shout, which announced the whereabouts of the crim- 
inal. His friends, pledged to defend each other at 
all hazards and under all circumstances, saw that they 
could not escape such a crowd with their criminal, 
and in order not to discover themselves to the excited 
and enraged hunters, and fearing arrest in such a case^ 
let him down in an old empty cistern, over which they 
placed old boards, lumber and store boxes, and then 
mingled with the crowd and assisted in the search. 
They were also the first to discover him. For they 
knew he could not hold out there very long on account 
of the cold. Seeing the utter uselessness of another 
struggle, the criminal was drawn forth amid the shouts 
of the multitudes. 

He now trembled like a leaf, and was deathly 
pale. He and his friends were in a panic of fear, as 
they had several times heard the words, "lynch him,'^ 
circulating in the crowd. The detective, however, 
when he heard it, spoke out with determination against 
such a course, and subdued the threatening storm. 
His friends meantime watched every opportunity, for 
his rescue, while he was taken into custody and firmly 
secured. He was well guarded in Kraemer's saloon, 
until teams could be brought up to convey him to the 
county jail, about eight miles away. Crowds gath- 
ered around the hotel to get a view of the prisoner, 
none of whom was able to recognize him. 



128 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

The friends of the criminal, by their secret signs, 
observed one of their number on the detective force 
in charge of his person. They secretly communicated 
with him, and agreed upon a plan for his escape. 
Three two-horse sleighs now drove up in front of the 
hotel. The prisoner was tied to one of the officers, 
and both were seated in the back seat of the front 
sleigh, while the sheriff and Cow-boy occupied the 
front seat. Another detective with his friends, lodge 
brothers of the criminal, followed them immediately 
in the rear. It was late, about 9 o'clock in the even- 
ing. The sheriff gave his horses the reins, cracked 
his whip, and his prancing steeds made the snow fly 
as they sped away. The prisoner felt relieved to get 
away from the crowd. Away they went, up hill and 
down, over the pure white curtain of the driven snow, 
on whose innocent bosom now rode the wretch who 
destroyed the happiness and prospects of many a 
quiet and happy home, and cast the gloom of death 
and ruin in his path for the blessings and benefits he 
had received. Should the fiend escape justice? Tliere 
is a hell on fire, raging in his own bosom, more dire 
and ominous with punishment than temporal courts 
can ever inflict ! 

It had been agreed upon by the party as they 
left the Port, to stop at the five-mile house for re- 
freshments, as many of them, and especially the pris- 
oner, had nothing to eat for several days. This tavern 
was by the wayside, in a deep forest glen, surrounded 
with towering hills, covered with wild hemlocks and 
cedars, rocks and caves. Xear by, a large bridge 



Immoral Character of School Teachers. 129 

spanned the gorge beneath, down which a bright for- 
est stream plunged over its rocky bed, festooning the 
overhanging branches, the rocks and everything with- 
in reach, with its icy spray. It was the home of the 
finny tribe, where many a summer party enjoyed an 
outing, and feasted on the dehcate morsels caught 
out of its dashing foam. 

As they drove their panting steeds in front of 
this tavern, the sheriff gave the reins into the hands 
of the officer tied to the prisoner on the back seat, 
and with the cowboy went in to obtain refreshments. 
Quick as a hawk pounces upon its prey, three of the 
prisoner's friends in the next sleigh to the rear 
mounted the front sled, seized the reins, cut the officer 
loose from the prisoner, and tumbled him out into 
the snow, lashed the horses to the top of their speed, 
followed by more friends in the third sleigh to the 
rear. The officer in the one sled that remained, cried 
to his companions at the top of his voice, who im- 
mediately mounted to their seats and pursued the run- 
aways in hot haste. They were too late. The flee- 
ing party had already mounted the top of the high 
hill and were soon out of sight, descending the long 
stretch around the shaggy cedars that grew on the 
other side. 

They reached the county seat in time to change 
the prisoner's clothes, and enable him to take the 
train just departing for the East. All which the de- 
tectives learned soon afterwards, and upbraided their 
own carelessness. Nevertheless, they had reason to 
doubt the conduct of one of their men, and the sheriff 



130 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

made no bones in accusing him to his face for his 
intimacy with those who kidnaped the prisoner. He 
brought his entire force together for consuhation and 
secret examination. Upon which he immediately 
abandoned the truckler from his force. ^Moreover, 
he convinced himself that this was no ordinary fiend, 
that he had his friends among those who were in 
the service of the state. He put this information into 
the hands of the state authorities. This made a stir 
among them. They were now all strictly examined, 
and the force increased with all their old and trusty 
veterans of the service, and sent upon their way. 
They soon found where the fiend had left his clothes, 
and bought a new suit. They took a strict inventory 
of the quality and measurements both of the old and 
new clothes, a copy of which was distributed among 
them. They now found out they had a subtle enemy 
to deal with, and while it would tax all their inge- 
nuity to the utmost to gain possession of the crimi- 
nal, they almost despaired of conducting him safely 
through the secret meshes of a concealed foe, and 
bring him through a process of law to conviction, 
although they were fully convinced of his guilt. 

While waiting at the depot for the next train 
that was to carry them oflf in pursuit of the felon, 
and buying their tickets, a little man came running 
into the depot in all haste, inquiring for the cowboy 
detective. When he found him he directed his at- 
tention to a photo he held in his hand, saying : "That's 
him, you will know him by this picture." 



Immoral Character of School Teachers. 131 

''Yes," said the cowboy, ''it is the very chap. 
Where did you get it, my friend?" 

"It fell from his pocket as he was searched in 
Kraemer's tavern. It was handed to me, as we 
thought it might be useful," said Jim Crow. 

"You have been very considerate, indeed. Have 
you any more of these photos?" inquired the detec- 
tive. 

"No, sir; but I have made the negative, and 1 
can finish as many more as you want," said he. 

"Well," said the cowboy, "Jimmy, you finish 
enough and send them to every postmaster within 
fifty miles around, and order him to put up the pic- 
ture in a conspicuous place in the postofifice, and have 
a little card printed below the picture so that every 
one can read what deeds he has done, and why he is 
wanted. Here are ten dollars for your trouble. If 
it costs more, I will pay you when I return." 

The train was now on its way, and little Jim 
Crow went to his work with a will. The next day 
early in the morning he was trudging a basket full of 
papers on the pavement to deposit the fruits of his 
labors into the postofifice. He had worked faithfully 
all that night, and then returned to take a little rest. 
Meantime, on the train that was flying away, the 
other detectives took the cowboy to task, claiming 
that he had given the whole thing away by publish- 
ing the photo and sending it throughout the country, 
and that it should have been kept among themselves. 

"Never mind, never mind," said the cowboy, 'Til 
stand good for all the photo does. It cannot fail to 



132 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

find some one who knows more about this rascal than 
we do, and is acquainted with his haunts. If we had 
such a one, we could proceed on a sure footing to 
find some clue to his whereabouts, and not be mis- 
taken in his identity." 

Some thought the cowboy was about right, while 
several of the old veterans shook their heads, but said 
nothing. However, they were all under orders, as 
well as the sherii? and his deputies, to follow the cow- 
boy's lead. 

The leaders of the detective force of Pittsburg 
were waiting in the union depot as the train pulled 
in with the cowbov and his party The respect and 
honor which the city detectives gave the cowboy, at 
once convinced his party that they had mistaken their 
man, and that he must be a detective of considerable 
notoriety, or these city detectives would not give 
him so much confidence. All was subject to his or- 
der. He brought them together at a hotel for con- 
sultation, and gave each one his directions and in- 
formation how he should work, some by day. others 
by night, and appointed a certain hour and place of 
meeting for further consultation. 

They had tramped the streets a few days when 
the cowboy returned to the depot for an old friend 
he sent for from the West. It was his old trusty 
bloodhound, who leaped from the train rejoiced to 
find his old master again after so long an absence. 
He was a splendid dog, and had been trained in con- 
nection with bloodhounds to run the human trail. 
He had a fine scent and was a most excellent worker. 



Immoral Character of School Teachers. 133 

The conductor led him with a long rope, and deliv- 
ered him into his master's hands. He immediately 
took old Rover to his room at the hotel. After sat- 
isfying the dog's appetite, he got his grip that con- 
tained the old clothes of the criminal, and spread 
them piece by piece on the floor of his room, and to 
them he directed the attention of Rover for some 
time. Rover smelt at the pieces and seemed to ex- 
amine them carefully. At lenth he left them lie 
without further notice and appeared very uneasy and 
anxious, as he whined and leaped with his forefeet 
on the door. His master knew that he was now 
ready to go to work, and packed up the clothes 
again into his grip and made off with his trusty friend, 
leading him by the rope. He went to the depot. 
It was not long he led him through its precincts, 
until he noticed the dog had struck the trail. Now 
Rover led his master from block to block and square 
to square. On Liberty street the dog made a halt 
in front of a large shoe store, and would proceed 
no further. His master opened the door and gave 
him more rope. The cowboy immediately glanced 
at all the clerks, but saw no face resembling the photo. 
They were not a httle excited and frightened when 
they saw the beautiful animal. The clerks were told 
they were in no danger, but should stand still and 
not move from their places. When Rover came to 
a certain counter in the rear end of the store, he was 
very busy about that counter, and searched it over 
and over again, and whined when his master at- 
tempted to pull him away. 



184 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

He was now satisfied that the man he was after 
had been at work at that place, and asked for the 
proprietor of the store, that he desired to see him 
privately. The proprietor stepped forth and led him 
into his private office. The cowboy handed him the 
photo and asked if he could recognize the subject 
of the picture. 

"AMiy, yes ; I think I can," said he. "That man 
just left my store a few days ago. I cannot tell where 
he is now, unless in some shoe store, as he is a good 
judge of leather and its manufacture." 

The cowboy thanked him for his information, and 
after conversing a while longer on the subject and in- 
quiring all about him, passed on. 

He now feared that his game might get wind 
of the chase, and the friends of the criminal might 
work together to put him off the trail. Still, he 
worked away and canvassed all the leather estab- 
lishments of the smoky city. Time and again Rover 
struck the scent, and then seemed to lose it again. 
Every evening his master made him go through an 
examination of the clothing in his grip. Xot a day 
passed but his faithful dog discovered fresh evidence 
that he was nearing his goal. But after thinking 
it OTer. the detective was certain that he could not 
recognize the man by the photo alone, for no doubt 
he had entirely changed his appearance. After three 
or four days' hard work, and fearing lest his work 
should become known, consulting with his men, they 
concluded to rest a few days and await further de- 
velopments. 



YOUNG PEOPLE ESTRANGED FROM RELIGION 
BY THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

f$ fS /s 

A BEAUTIFUL church, with its magnificent 
tower and sweet chime of bells, and the commo- 
dious school buildings arose above the duelling houses 
of Rolling Meads. They were conspicuous and beau- 
tiful for situation, the joy of the inhabitants, and the 
delight of the worshippers at Fountains of Streams. 
An excellent teacher had been employed to superin- 
tend the school and teach advanced classes. Thus 
the public school was again restored and fully equip- 
ped. Parents generally decided that it was requisite 
for little children to pass through a course of Bible 
instruction until their fourteenth year. For the first 
thing a child should learn, is the establishment of a 
good character. If this is not learnt during the tender 
years of childhood and youth, the most that can 
afterwards be done, will remain patchwork. 

The regular meeting of the Teachers' Associa- 
tion was now at hand. This time the parochial school 
teacher was appointed to read an essay on the church 
attendance of young people throughout the land, and 
thus show the bad influence of the teaching they re- 
ceive as to their moral character in the public schools 
generally, that they from the lack of moral teaching 
were led away from the church, and consequently 
from good morals into crime and vice. He produced 
the following statistical arguments : 



136 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

"Our young people and the coming generations 
are becoming more and more estranged from all re- 
ligious ideas and the church, and are wholly in love 
with the world. The printed statement of the Y. M. 
C. U. declares that only 5 per cent of the young men 
throughout the land belong to any church. Only 
fifteen out of every one hundred attend church service 
with any show of regularity, and seventy-five out of 
a hundred never attend church at all. Of the seven 
millions of young men in the United States, over 
five millions are never seen inside of any church. 
Among the fifty thousand of young men in Pittsburg 
and Allegheny, only four thousand five hundred are 
found in all the churches. And those cities are con- 
sidered a community of church-goers. In Xew Al- 
bany, Ind., a city of churches, only one-third of the 
young men are retained in the church. In 1889, 
Springfield, O., had six thousand five hundred young 
men. In nine of the leading churches there were 
counted four hundred and sixty-one. There were not 
in all the Protestant churches of Springfield over five 
hundred young men. An authorized statement gives 
four hundred and twenty-five thousand males in 
^lassachusetts and Rhode Island between the ages 
of 15 and 40, and not more than one-sixth are mem- 
bers of Evangelical churches. Of the six thousand 
five hundred young men of Evansville, Ind.. only 
eight hundred and sixty-five belong to a church where 
the Gospel is preached. All statistics taken from old 
states, and from sections where young men had the 
opportunity of church privileges, it is estimated that 



Young People Estranged^ Etc. 137 

not more than 5 per cent of the young men of the 
land from 14 to 40 are rehgiously incHned. The ma- 
jority are found in the pursuits of pleasure and sin,, 
in the home of filth and pollution, instead of the 
Church of God. Our tramps, swindlers, gamblers,, 
burglars and murderers are mostly young men. 
Young men as a rule are the criminals of the day. 
From accurately figured statistics in round numbers 
70 per cent, of the criminals in all our penitentiaries 
and reformatories are young men. The increase of 
crime outstrips that of the population. The United 
States census tells us 'that crime has more 'than 
doubled every ten years, for half a century past, just 
the time our pubHc school system has been in force,, 
and the tide of crime and wickedness is rising. 

The great railroads going west and southwest 
from New York have in late years been swindled 
out of $40,000,000. The New York Sun declared: 
'By crooked manipulation and adroit financiering the 
officers in power have played the part of thieves, 
and with their aggrandizement depreciated the value 
of stocks and wrecked the roads whose afifairs they 
were elected to supervise.' An expert in railroad 
afifairs gives the result of his investigations in the 
following language : 'The uneasy and unsatisfactory 
position of the railroad system of the country is to 
be accounted for by the covetousness, want of good 
faith, and low moral tone of those in whose hands 
the management of the railroad system now is.' 

Bribery and lawlessness, unscrupulous audacity 
to interfere with the cause of justice, prevails through- 



138 Foitntaiiis of Streams and Public Schools. 

out the land. The appalling effrontery in the utter 
disregard of law, and defiance to every known code 
of morals, honesty and duty, prevails in all our courts. 
This IS no mystery. It is simply natural causes work- 
ing out their natural results. Men do not gather 
grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles. In the public 
schools in early hfe their moral characters became 
vitiated, and dishonesty and robbery has become a 
second nature to them. And if something be not 
■done in our public schools to correct and elevate the 
conscience of the rising generation of boys and girls, 
the future will be still worse than the present, full 
■of wrongs and evils which one class of society must 
suffer from another. Property will become less se- 
cure, life will be unsafe from the burglar and high- 
wayman, our investments will fall into the hands of 
fraudulent speculators, our elections will be manip- 
ulated by the briber and boodler, and our adminis- 
tration of justice will become a stigma of disgrace to 
the nations of the civilized earth. The public schools 
by corrupting our youth, are preparing the downfall 
of our republic. Ambition, inculcated and nourished 
in the youthful breast, prepares the way for strikes 
and trusts and unlawful combinations. Decency, vir- 
tue, social and moral purity are ignored and ridiculed 
in our public schools. They only educate the head 
and neglect the heart. Henry S. Ives was a young 
man not thirty years old. Public men with the pas- 
sion for wealth gathered round him and were en- 
chanted with his financial genius. \\'ithout one dol- 
lar of his own, he came to be the financial wizard 



Young People Estranged, Etc. 139 

of Wall Street. The public knew him as a thief. 
But as long as the laws did not lay hold on him, this 
was but a trifle. In his scheme to defraud, he first 
drew in with him a man of recognized wealth and 
honesty. When the thief was called to an account, 
suspicion fell upon this man, and it killed him. The 
brazen faced broker immediately formed a plan to 
rob his estate of seven million dollars. He was de- 
tected and brought into court. This time he could 
not blindfold justice, and the story of his life and 
crimes came to the public. Forgery and perjury were 
his daily instrumients. He hesitated at nothing. He 
has stolen millions of dollars, and has proved himself 
one of the most daring knaves and freebooters of the 
world. This man received his brilliant education m 
our public and high schools. And the fact must no-: 
be forgotten, that this is the only kind of education 
and men our public schools are able to turn out, ac- 
cording to their present capabilities and privileges. 

The saloon, ladies' parlors, offices of trust in 
the hands of wealthy monopoly or of the government, 
are not the original causes that are now sinking oUr 
country in a deluge of crime. They are only the privi- 
leges which give the real cause an opportunity to 
work. If this real cause of crime did not exist, these 
privileges and opportunities for crime would grow 
less and less, and finally disappear in proportion. The 
real cause is the improper, incorrect and immoral 
traming and education of childhood and youth in our 
public schools. It is true, that heredity gives a trend 
to character, and if it is vicious, the character will be 



140 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

nothing else but wicked. But neither heredity nor 
environment can fix the character and make it stead- 
fast and unchangeable. Children inherit from im- 
moral parents vicious characters, and in our public 
immoral schools, the environment makes them adepts 
in wickedness. But this environment can be changed^ 
and thus the inherited evil character can also be 
changed for good, as experience teaches every day. 
Now^ look at our homes where the parents have 
been educated in our public schools without any moral 
or Christian culture. Their children come into the 
world under unlucky skies. Neither father nor 
mother ever wished or hailed their presence. Xot 
long ago a spanking boy, sound and healthy, was 
carried out of a hotel in Columbus and laid out in 
the woods to freeze to death. Both father and 
mother received a first-class education in public 
schools. And the mother consented that the father 
should make way with the child as soon as it w^as born. 
Children are treated as intruders, and must endure 
the vengeance of their proud and ambitious parents. 
They wish their children dead, and do everything 
by exposure and neglect, to kill them. But many are 
destined to live on in spite of ill-treatment, to make 
others suffer like themselves. At home there is noth- 
ing but confusion, violence and tyranny, which can 
only harden the heart and change it into stone. The 
children are punished for they know not what. They 
are turned out of doors in the cold : locked up in the 
house alone or shut into dark closets for hours : they 
are kicked and beaten by angry parents, until they are 



Yotmg People Estranged, Etc. 141 

forced to turn like savages with any weapons that 
come to their hands. The he is their weapon of de- 
fense ; to steal their only means of support. They 
grow shy and fearful and learn to look upon every 
human being as a foe. The only congenial pas- 
time they find is doing something to aggravate and 
torment others. 

Now these are the homes our public school sys- 
tem, as coming from the state, builds up in this coun- 
try. The children's chances for a law-abiding life and 
citizenship, would evidently be increased by taking 
them away from such homes and schools, and giving 
them a good moral training. The only way to get 
rid of such vicious households, is to do away with 
the cause — to change the character of teaching in 
our schools in which such parents are made. Chris- 
tians are hereby warned from sending their children 
to such public schools, where the influence of the 
state instead of the church prevails. 

They come in contact there with an impure world 
early in life. They are thrown into its atmosphere 
in their early associations at the public schools. 
Here they form secret habits and practices which 
lead them to ignore all virtue and to walk the paths 
that lead to crime. They are not pure in heart, their 
personal vices make them gross and vulgar in thought, 
and good advice and rebuke finally leave no more 
impression upon them than upon the cattle in the 
field. The character that is formed in childhood and 
youth remains in manhood and old age, unless pow- 
erful influences are brought to bear upon it. 



142 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

Children oug-ht to be brought up under the at- 
mosphere of family worship. This will appear of 
course as a foolish suggestion to our public school 
teachers and educators. Yet, it makes the atmos- 
phere of home a Christian atmosphere, and when 
children breathe it every day, they will unconsciously 
grow by constant accretion into rehgious and Chris- 
tian characters. It is the daily keeping our children 
in contact with church forms, that makes their future 
life and character become fixed. But family wor- 
ship is being neglected. It is among the lost arts 
in m.any Christian households. The vicious and 
worldly influence of the public school is against it. 
The atmosphere of the common schools is contrary 
to true Christian prayer and worship. They toler- 
ate nothing of this sort. They worship nothing but 
the wisdom of this world, pride, ambition, and selfish- 
ness. 

Wq have stated facts, and facts are stubborn 
things. They cannot be and are not contradicted by 
any one well informed on the subject. The tendency 
of the present system is unquestioned by the best 
educators of the country. The system is running to 
seed, and cropping out into all kinds of hobbies and 
fads, just as pride and ungodly ambition turn and 
change with the tides of fashion. Anything new be- 
comes the fashion and they must have it. Pride must 
be satisfied, and the school must pander to its tastes. 
Like the frog in the fable, these schools try to make 
their children believe that they are as big as an ox, 
and blow themselves so full of wind, until thev ex- 



Young People Estranged, Etc. 143' 

plode and leave nothing but a lifeless carcass on the 
ground, full of fads, hobbies and trumpery. 

The Chicago Journal of March 9, 1896, in speak- 
ing on this subject says : 'New York has its trouble 
over fads in the schools as well as Chicago. In a 
recent edition of the New York Tribune there is a 
very sensible editorial on this subject, which points 
out the dangers of a multiplicity of studies for young 
pupils. The writer deprecates the spirit of pretence 
and the equally dangerous craze to know a little some- 
thing about everything, that are the outcome of modern 
educational methods in this country, and asserts that 
it is the true function of primary schools to give every 
child a thorough grounding in the few simple rudi- 
ments of knowledge on which his own comfortable 
existence and his usefulness to the state largely de- 
pend. He further makes this very just observation : 
The simple fact must be faced, that the majority of 
children cannot obtain anything more than common 
school training. They are entitled to receive that 
thoroughly. They should learn to read, write, and 
spell, to have an intelligent conception of geography, 
and a practical knowledge of arithmetic. This is the 
prime necessity of a mere secular education. 

It is a notable thing that professional educators 
and members of boards of education have been the 
last people in the land to learn these very evident 
truths. But here in Chicago, at least, they have con- 
fessed to their errors. Under the pressure of ne- 
cessity they have discovered that there is a great 
deal of humbug about the fads, and have entered 



144 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

with much spirit into the work of pruning them from 
the school course. 

One pleasing innovation after another was in- 
troduced in a tentative way until simple general prin- 
ciples were lost sight of, and a battle of fads ensued 
among the partisans. When pressed for reasons, each 
of them could retort upon the others that there was 
just as much sense in his hobby as in theirs, and then 
they would all take alarm and combine for safety. 

Outsiders have not been thus sorely tempted. 
They were ready to accept the severe logic of the 
case at any time, and to let all the special studies 
go together. They enjoyed the greater advantage of 
having nothing to unlearn.' 

Edward Bok, in the January (1900) Ladies' 
Home Joi-irnal, makes the following inquiry : *Do 
American men and women realize that in five cities 
of our country alone there were during the last school 
term over sixteen thousand children (16,000) between 
the ages of 8 and 14 taken out of the public schools, 
because their nervous systems were wrecked, and 
their minds were incapable of going on any further 
in the infernal cramming system which exists to-day 
in our schools? And these 16,000 helpless little 
wrecks are simply the children we know about. Con- 
servative medical men who have given their lives to 
the study of children, place the number whose health 
is shattered by over-study at more than fifty thousand 
each year. It is putting the truth mildly to state 
that, of all American institutions, that which deals 
with the public education of our children is at once 



Young People Estranged, Etc. 145 

the most faulty, the most unintelHgent and the most 
cruel.' 

How these cruel impositions torment the minds 
of children and drive them to despair by thousands, 
the facts just quoted stagger description. This gives 
no chance to store the children's minds with happy 
memories while you may. Soon their school day will 
be past, and their loved ones departed. What un- 
happy memories must they take with them ? 

The public school system at present in vogue, 
with its tendency to oppose the Scriptures as unfit 
for children to read, with their fads, such as new 
branches of study, literary and social parties, and 
lecture courses, includmg incompetent and disgrace- 
ful characters scouring through the country where 
they are not known, have hatched out many social 
evils, which injuriously reflect on the church and the 
rising generation. The fad of physiology in its con- 
nection with prohibition is a .farce. Fads ought not 
to be allowed in our schools. 

The prominence given to many loose characters 
of the weaker sex in our schools ,the promotions with 
which they are favored to many responsible positions, 
has made them ambitious to wield still more au- 
thority and to exercise an influence damaging to the 
morals and character of our children. 

A good moral character is no longer requisite 
for a person to become a teacher in the public schools, 
or a lecturer in the established courses. For smutty 
language and dirty talk from these female mudlarks 
is applauded. Bad wit and low intelligence are the 



146 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

chief things desired in a lecture, and all goes to show 
that they pander to the depraved appetites, and judg- 
ing from these lectures, the highest education is cov- 
etousness. In the pursuit of wealth, dishonesty has 
been developed to a higher degree than anywhere 
else in the world, or in any age. Multitudes of fresh 
young men with high aspirations of home, still ra- 
diant with the glow of honest faces, have their heads 
filled with ambitious desires, and are sucked down 
every year at the gambling table into the great whirl- 
pools of dishonesty and vice. And down into this 
cavern and vortex of pollution and depravity goes 
man — and — womanhood, principle, life, faith, hope 
and love. Covetousness has become a master pas- 
sion in our public schools, and destroys both sym- 
pathy and a good conscience. It destroys all the 
milk of human kindness and turns man into a beast. 
It tortures the mind, it crushes out our kind feelings 
for our fellow beings, and hardens the heart into 
stone. No wonder our young people, under such 
influences, become estranged from the church and 
religion." 



THE ARREST, TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF A 
PROMINENT SCHOOL TEACHER. 

^ ^ ^ 

Roam now, Rover, o'er the round green bank; ■ 

Plash in the pools where the pond lillies grow; 

Wade and wanton in the water's dank. 

Dripping with dews from the deep overflow ; 

For the woods that once wailed in the wild hurricane, 

Have been ravished and reft of their rollicking train. 

Dear friend dog! now cold with death's foul stab; 

Bury his bones by the brook on the lea ; 
For I fear great kings yearn for a slab. 

Wanting in worship less worthy than he; 
For the crown often covers a curse for the poor; 
And the tinsel of tyrants the tall paramour. 

Sinless spirit ! thy good service o'er ! 

Valor's now vanquished and virtue's in thrall! 
Lap in lily-bordered leas the shore. 

Where cheerful warbles the water's bright fall; • 

There, where bird-notes their babbling with blossoms 

do blend. 
Let me rest on the river with Rover my friend! 

THE arrest at the Port furnished a delicious morsel 
for gossip during the cold winter months, for 
such congenial spirits who assembled at Kraemer's. 
It made their town notorious, and distinguished a 
period in its history. It was the great news of the 
day. They wondered how it could be possible for 
him to escape out of the sheriff's hands. They lost all 
confidence in the officers of the State, and at length 



148 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

began to suspect every one who had a hand in it, ex- 
cept Mr. Kraemer. "You do not know who to trust, 
when you know that secret plans are on foot to thwart 
your efforts, and you know not what moment you 
may be entangled in their net," said the constable of 
the village. 

The news of the battle at the Port had been 
noised about far and wide by the press. The little 
photographer took advantage of the tide, and was 
reaping a golden harvest by selling his photos. He 
secured help to make more pictures, and scattered 
them everywhere like the "leaves in Vallambrosa." 
At first he sold them at a quarter a piece, and finally 
came down to five cents. As he came near the vicin- 
ity of Fountains of Streams, a report came to him that 
the man of the photo was well known there. He now 
steered his course more in that direction, and urged h»s 
pony forward. As he was jogging along through the 
precincts of Hopewell, he was accosted by an old 
friend of his: "Hallo! Jim, is that you?" "Well, Ben 
Wauthen ! how are you any way?" said Jimmy. 

"I'm all full weight and hearty, Jim. How goes 
it with you?" "Well, lively as a cricket. Say Ben, 
don't you want to buy a picture of a runaway, if you 
find that chap it will bring money into your pockets ?" 
"Where did you come across that Jim?" said Ben, 
looking at the picture very attentively. "\Miy, I made 
it. I took it from the photo of a man that was ai- 
rested down at Port," answered Jim Crow. "Well I 
declare, at his old tricks again, the good for nothing 
scamp," said Ben. "Do you know who it is. Ben?" 



Arrest, Trial and Execution, Etc. 149 

''If I don't, nobody does. Jim, I went to school to 
that rascal a whole winter, and I am ashamed to say it. 
It is nobody else in the world but Sol Dempsy, who 
played mischief with the girls up in our school dis- 
trict. I thought he would never come near these 
parts again. If he comes in my reach, I have a crow 
to pick with him he will not soon forget," said Ben 
Wauthen. 

''Well I don't want to be the crow that must be 
picked, and I'll make myself scarce when you meet 
with him," said Jim. "He is not worth the wind to 
blow him to Halifax," said Ben." Hallo ! Ben, does the 
wind really blow so strong in that corner?" inquired 
Jim Crow. "Well, it's been blowing in this corner 
now for four or five years, and the longer it blows 
the stronger the wind gets," said he. "Now Ben," 
replied Jimmy Crow, "if what you say is really tiMe, lay- 
ing aside all jokes, if you know the man whose picture 
that is, you can make lots of money by helping us to 
catch him. The detectives had caught him once down 
at the Port, where I got his photo, as he was sit- 
ting bound in a tavern. But some of his friends 
helped him secretly to escape out of their hands, as 
they were taking him to prison. They sent him away 
east on the cars, and the detectives are after him. 
But they do not know him, and would like to have 
some one along able to recognize him. Now do you 
think you would know him if dressed up in other 
clothes different from those he wore when you knew 
him?" "That's just the trouble Jim," said Ben, "I 
would know him for all that, to be sure, even if he had 



150 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

no clothes on at all. or in any shape he might see fit 
to present himself. But there's the trouble, I say; 
the more I think about him all these years, the more 
I get outrageously enraged at that cucumber, that I'd 
pile right in and fight him on the spot, now, that s just 
what I would." 

"^^>ll Ben," replied Jimmy, "I will tell you why 
we are after him now. It is not for tampering with 
fickle minded girls, as you think, but it is no less than 
for murdering the John ]^Iorven family. For he has 
been tracked and followed up in the snow, and they 
have kept an eye on him every minute since, till they 
caught him at the Port." "Eih! eih I eih!" cried 
Benny, "worse and worse and worse! Well, if you're 
after him for that job, I guess Til not need to teach 
him a thing or two, nor to pick that crow neither. Yes 
Jim, I am ready to do what I can to bring that low 
inhuman wretch to justice, even if he was my teacher. 
So here goes," and so saying he mounted by the side 
of Jim Crow, and they wheeled away together toward 
the county seat. As they traveled along they com- 
municated to each other what they knew about the 
subject of the photo. Jim Crow no longer had his 
mind occupied in selling pictures. He had now 
struck a bonanza, that was destined to crop him out 
more coin than the first. 

Jogging along as fast as the pony could go, they 
soon came across Frank Grail, a young man reserved 
and full of solid sense, and strong as a saddle horse, 
his shoulders made to carry all kinds of burdens. He 
also recognized the picture, but would not go with 



Arrest, Trial and Execution, Etc. 151 

them, as he thought he would not be needed, and 
wished them good luck, and hoped they might soon 
succeed in delivering the villain into the power of 
justice. "Yes justice," said Ben, ''I wonder if there 
is any justice left any more in the land, only what 
a fellow's got in his own fists. These bloody hyenas 
have dens full of pups and money, whose walls are 
hung with curtains and tapestries of silk, and furnished 
with vessels of silver and gold, who shield thieves and 
murderers, and help them scot free to continue their 
dirty work, as in this very case. I think it time lo 
turn all our force against these secret combinations 
of self interest, existing at the expense and detriment 
of all good citizens." 

They arrived at their destination late in the day. 
Jim drove immediately to the official departments and 
made his business known without delay. Some mes- 
sages were exchanged by telegraph with Pittsburg, 
and in the space of an hour Ben Wauthen and Jim 
Crow were flying as fast as the express could carry 
them to the smoky city. They met the detective force 
of the city, who had been assisting the Cowboy all 
they could since he came to that place. And they 
had no doubt but what they would be able to locate 
him in a few more days. The city is a large territory 
to canvas. The Cowboy had put the city detectives 
on their guard. They had searched the wholesale es- 
tablishments, the shops, the wharves and the streets, 
and watched the mails without the least trace of the 
fiend. Still they kept on day and night watching 
every turn and sizing up every suspicious character. 



152 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

The cowboy, who knew how to keep his own 
secrets, had arrested several persons w^iom the city 
detectives were after for over a year, and thus estab- 
lished his reputation among them. While the object 
of his own particular search, like magic, eluded his 
grasp. Still he kept on, and trusted in his dog. Ben 
Wauthen and his partner were conducted into the 
hotel where the Cowboy had put up, and occupied his 
room until he made his appearance in the evening 
when they came together for a consultation. Here 
the tardy hours grew weary to the two strangers, who 
never saw such a city before. From the window they 
watched the passing crowds to see if they could not 
notice a large man with a broad brimmed hat leading 
a large beautiful dog. Evening came, supper was 
over and the lights of the city lighted up the streets 
and great thoroughfares as far as the eye could see. 

It was indeed late, after a hard day's work, later 
than usual when the Cowboy bent his footsteps wearily 
homeward. For several squares he had yet to go, 
he noticed that his room was occupied, and thought 
nothing of it, as it was time for his force to meet him 
there. He had as yet no information of the arrival of 
Jim Crow and his protege. As soon as Jim saw him 
approaching he ran down onto the street to meet him. 
The Cowboy was glad to see him, and still more re- 
joiced over the news he had to tell him. So he hast- 
ened to his room to examine Ben ^^'authen, who was 
a stranger to him. As they met and greeted each 
other, and the detective had asked a few questions, 
he turned to his partners and remarked "That fel- 



Arrest, Trial and Execution, Etc. 15S- 

low has the right mettle in him, and a good addition 
to the force. We will not be so long in Pittsburg 
any more as we were." After taking his evening meal 
and giving out his orders for the night and the next- 
day, they retired to rest, but Ben Wauthen slept with 
him. So he had an opportunity to talk with him alone,, 
and post him in reference to the work before them 
next day. Morning came, and they were both re- 
freshed and anxious to get at their work. Ben, the 
cowboy and his dog, were each other's company day 
by day, as they traversed the streets and took in every 
place where Rover had struck the trail. When they 
returned the third day for consultation, the force was 
discouraged, and Ben being a novice, was almost ex- 
hausted, big and stout as he was, which afiforded them 
no little diversion at his expense. 

While all were complaining and nearly worn out,, 
they remarked among themselves, that the cowboy- 
must be made of iron, he does not appear to be tired 
of his job in the least. He seems to be getting more 
peart than ever. He thinks he will soon bring down 
his game. "I hope he may, but things begin to look 
blue," said an old veteran. For four days Ben Wau- 
then had faithfully trudged along with his cowboy 
friend, until he felt sore and jammed up all over, his 
feet were galled from walking the hard pavement, and 
his eyes were heavy with sleep. While thus dragging 
himself along disconsolate over the covered bridge to 
Allegheny, Ben caught a glimpse of the object of their- 
search and his eyes flashed fire as he turned toward the 
cowboy and laid his hand on his shoulder and pointed; 



154 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

out the fiend. They stood still where they were for 
a feAv moments in consultation at the going out of the 
bridge on the Allegheny side. They both saw the 
man walk up the hill and turn the square, down town. 
They now hastened forward and put the dog on the 
trail. From the way Rover acted they were sure of 
their man. Soon the dog stopped in front of a whole- 
sale establishment, and ^Ir. \\'authen proceeded some 
distance ahead, while the cowboy kept himself within 
call, observing Ben closely. He soon saw him walk 
up to a wild looking customer and shake hands with 
hmi saying: "Well master, how are you?" *T'll de- 
clare Ben," said he, "are you lost?" He was so taken 
by surprise by the kind old familiar tone of Ben's 
voice, that he gave his identity away, never thinking 
of the name he had assumed. A moment after that 
he was very much excited and trembled from head to 
foot as he felt the cowboy's irons on his wrists. The 
cowboy's determination was at last rewarded, and he 
was lively and jolly hearted as he remarked while 
iastening the irons: "I'll not try the rope this time." 
Ben A\'authen was very glad their weary days of 
tramping- were over, and he could now soon meet his 
friends at home to tell them of the wonderful sights 
he saw and of his experiences in the great city. Anxi- 
ous to return as safely as possible, they immediately 
passed the word through the police from station to 
station that the game was up. and his force should 
meet him on the spot, while he with his dog and ^Ir. 
\\^authen closely guarded their prisoner under locked 
doors. 



Arrest, Trial and Execution, Etc. 155 

At the same time the fiend communicated the 
secret sign of destress to his comrades, within whose 
reach he was always wary to confine himself. Five 
stout men now broke through the doors and fell upon 
the cowboy and Ben Wauthen, and soon relieved the 
prisoner from his chains. They were hastening away 
with him, while the detective force were speedily 
gathering in great excitement and running after them 
through the city. The chase lasted some three hours. 
The faitful dog kept close on the track through the 
alleys and various windings they made to elude their 
pursuers, followed at a distance by his delighted 
friends. Rover led them away out in the eastern sub- 
urbs of the city. Here occurred the greatest misfor- 
tune to the cowboy. As the dog had run up the trail 
to a beautiful summer cottage, he was shot down in 
the yard. The dog's friends were now bent on veng- 
eance. They furiously broke in the front door and 
entered with their pistols and Winchesters in front of 
them, primed and ready to fire, calling out surrender ! 
The enraged mob now came rushing on with out- 
bursts of wrath. This was too much for the friends 
of the fiend. They hastened to secure their own safety 
through the buildings in the back yard, while Ben 
Wauthen had attacked the felon, threw him on the 
floor and had his hand on his throat. He was again 
put into chains, while an immense crowd had gath- 
ered around the cottage. 

After searching this house they found many valu- 
able jewels, vessels of gold and silver, and the most 
costly female wardrobe and adornments in abundance. 



156 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

In a bed-chamber upstairs they found secreted a tall^ 
finely dressed and very beautiful lady. Further in- 
vestigation proved that they had caught a shoplifter^ 
who for years had eluded the vigilance of the police 
and detectives of the great city. With this woman 
the prisoner had made his home and assisted her in her 
work. She had accumulated an immense amount of 
valuable treasures from jewelry, dry goods stores and 
other places, until her house was stored with goods 
that run way up into the tens of thousands. She was 
delivered into the hands of the city authorities, and 
the goods returned into the hands of their proper 
owners, while the detectives, and especially the cow- 
boy, received a large reward. Still, the entire amount 
did not equal in the cowboy's estimation his great 
loss, his faithful and true friend, his beautiful Rover, 
He grit his teeth and muttered words of rage, as he 
saw his beautiful form stretched out cold and stiff 
on the lawn. It was indeed a pitiful sight, as the 
cowboy stood over him and stroked him with his hand 
time and again, calling him pet names and talking 
to him as he was wont to do, as though the dog 
understood every word. Then he arose at his full 
length as though to take his long last look. He was 
in a reverie. At length he ordered the dog to be 
buried on the spot where he fell, and that a monu- 
ment be placed on his grave, with the name of the dog 
and his master engraved upon it, and how he came to 
his end. Sadly he parted from the noble animal he 
learned to love and cherish as his faithful companion. 
The cowboy's men now presented themselves 



Arrest, Trial and Execution^ Etc. 157 

well armed for duty. With great vigilance they pro- 
ceeded to the depot, being determined not to permit 
his escape another time. They had no trouble in 
obtaining a car for their own use, and soon were 
homeward bound. 

Dispatches having been sent on afore, all officers 
of the road and employes were put on their guard 
to make the trip as secure as possible. An immense 
crowd was now assembled at the Port awaiting their 
arrival, and anxious to see the prisoner, and to honor 
the men who caught him. Hearing of this, the cow- 
boy ordered the conductor to let him ofif at the first 
station nine miles east of the Port. This caution 
was well timed, for in the crowd gathered at the Port 
were men in force to do mischief, and to set the 
prisoner free. Alighting at the station they soon 
obtained conveyances and were on their way to the 
county prison, which they reached late in the even- 
ing, quite tired and exhausted. Knowing the pris- 
oner was now in the secure and powerful grasp of 
the state, they laid themselves down to rest and quiet 
dreams. 

Even here the state became uneasy about the se- 
curity of the prisoner, and some thought best to send 
him away, while others decided it a very dangerous 
attempt. They had to fear a lynching from the ex- 
asperated citizens and friends of Morven, as well as 
abduction from the many powerful secret organiza- 
tions to which the prisoner belonged, whose lowest 
classes are always ready to abuse their secrets to pre- 
vent justice and protect the wrong. The governor 



158 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

was appealed to, who sent a company of militia to 
overawe any attempts to rescue or lynch the prisoner. 

A few days passed quietly awa}', when a circus 
and menagerie had pitched their large tent and were 
on exhibition in the county seat. The large, unruly 
and vicious elephant had broken loose from his 
keepers and was raving down Main street in furious 
madness, frightening and terrifying teams, women and 
children, and destroying everything that came in his 
way. Some citizens had shot him with their rifles, 
which only made him more furious. His keepers 
now saw that the elephant would have to be destroyed. 
The militia were called out to assist, and the old 
cannon was hauled up in front of the beast. When 
it observed these movements it became subdued, and 
permitted its keepers to lead it to its fastenings. 

This excitement gave the lynchers, who were 
present at the show well organized and equipped for 
every opportunity for their work, an occasion to as- 
semble their forces and take possession of the prison, 
and barricade the streets to prevent the return of 
the militia. Store boxes, barrels, lumber of all de- 
scription constituted the barricades as high as the 
houses themselves. These barricades were now se- 
cretly fired by the prisoner's friends, and the city was 
in danger of the flames, which now reached the tops 
of the buildings. So there was an indescribable con- 
fusion, as the fire departments got to work and the 
miUtia returned to their charge. The prison doors 
were broken through by the infuriated mob, but the 
prisoner and his guard were nowhere to be found. 



Arrest, Trial and Execution, Etc. 159- 

The militia saw that the mob had completely impris- 
oned themselves with their barricades of fire. There 
was no room to escape except over the tops of the 
buildings, which were now full of runaways, as the 
mob was breaking up on hearing the prisoner had 
been transferred to another place of safety. In such 
great personal danger some one had to get hurt, yet 
luckily none were killed. Fire arms were heard and 
rifle shooting in abundance, more for intimidation 
and foolhardiness, than any real intent to injure any 
one. The fire was kept under control and finally 
put out, but left blackened and ruined houses and 
desolation around the court house. 

Next day the big show had left and quiet reigned 
in the city. And the people immediately set to work 
to repair the damages. The prison was soon in bet- 
ter condition than it was before, and the prisoner, 
who had been secreted by the cowboy and his guard 
during the first excitement, was now returned to his 
quarters, and the forces of the state on guard in- 
creased. 

After months passed by the appointed day came 
when Sol Dempsy was to prove to the world what 
right he had to live. Of course, as is usually the 
case, every means were employed in favor of the pris- 
oner. The judge was beset with petitions and the 
prosecution hindered in every conceivable way. At 
every step attempts were made to check the proceed- 
ings or to divert them from their proper channel, in 
the hopes that fortune's wheel might trip them up a 
happy moment to carry their designs into effect. The 



160 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

state pressed its cause and urged that the trial imme- 
diately go forward according to legal appointment. 
All arrangements being finally adjusted, the judge 
published the day and hour when the trial should 
begin. 

Tempting bribes were now secretly offered at- 
torneys of the state, and even to the judge and the 
jury. But they knew the whole community was des- 
perately armed to right a great wrong, and were now 
patiently awaiting the outcome of the trial. And 
themselves, as officers of the state, had steeled their 
hearts for justice. The court-room and building were 
jammed with visitors. The first witnesses the prose- 
cution brought forward were two men. who recog- 
nized the prisoner as the man in pursuit of the little 
girl, who cried and fled to them for protection, as 
they were driving past her home in a sleigh the night 
of the murder. They testified that they immediately 
went into the house, taking the little girl with them, 
and saw that the murder had just taken place, the 
dying victims still twitching when the last gasp of 
death was over. The mother was still breathing, but 
^ unconscious, struggling in the agonies of pain and 
death. They testified that they immediately employed 
men to track him in the snow, who also gave evidence 
that they followed him closely and chased him into 
the Port two days afterwards. The defense employed 
every ingenuity in their power to overthrow the tes- 
timony of these witnesses. They stood, however, in- 
vincible, and the only plan the defense had to in- 
validate their testimony, was to produce an alibi. 



Arrest, Trial and Execution, Etc. 161 

Witnesses they brought forth who testified they saw 
the ^prisoner in the Port at the time of the murder. 
So the fate of the prisoner seemed to hang in doubt, 
and any reasonable doubt would bring in a verdict of 
acquittal. 

The attorneys for the state were in deep and earn- 
est conversation, whereupon they produced their main 
witness, a little blue-eyed girl with chestnut brown hair 
that lay in wavy locks on her high forehead. It was the 
seven-year-old daughter of the murdered man, the 
only eye-witness of the tragedy, and the only living 
member of the family. This caused a stir in the 
audience, some clapped their hands and were glad, 
as they wept tears of pity for the little orphan. The 
defense cried out in angry denunciation at the cruel 
proceeding. They strenuously objected against her 
as a witness, and would not allow her testimony to 
be presented in court before the jury. They claimed 
she was too young to testify in a court of justice, on 
such an important and weighty matter, that involved 
the life of a human being. They appealed to the wis- 
dom of the court not to set an example as a precedent, 
putting the lives of the whole community in jeopardy, 
and making them depend upon the weak, frail judg- 
ment of little children, whose minds like reeds could 
be shaken by every breeze. The immense audience 
listened to this plea with much dissatisfaction. The 
only sympathy it excited was in a little corner in 
the rear of the counsel for the defense ; and their 
efforts to awaken sympathy for the prisoner among 
the people only met with disgust. 



162 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

After they had exhausted their vain pleadings, 
the judge arose, while all eyes were riveted upon him, 
and every ear listened with painful anxiety to hear 
some word from his lips, which they might construe 
in favor of justice. The judge stood there only for 
a moment. Then casting his eyes hurriedly over the 
audience, he gathered up a few papers before him, 
came down from the bench and took a seat by the 
side of the little child. This caused intense feeling 
of suspense and curiosity in the audience, as he be- 
gan to examine the child. Many wept, as they saw 
and heard the learned judge conversing with the little 
blue-eyed maiden. At first she appeared somewhat 
shy and fearful, but as the judge went on and spoke 
kindly and pleasantly, she soon gained confidence 
and was able to answer his questions intelligently. 

"Lilly," said he, *'did you ever take an oath?" 

''No ; my mother taught us it was not right to 
swear," was the answer. 

"You mean to curse, use profane language, do 
you not, Lilly?" asked the judge again. 

"Yes, sir," was the reply. 

"Now, Lilly, if you would tell a lie, wdiat do you 
think would become of you ?" 

"I would be punished," was the answer. 

"Who would punish you ?" was the next question. 

"Why, the good man would punish me if I would 
not tell the truth," she answered. 

"Who is the good man?" inquired the judge. 

"God, who made all things," she replied. 



Arrest, Trial and Execution, Etc. 163 

''Who taught you that, Lilly?" asked the judge 
again. 

''My mother, and I learnt it at Sunday School," 
was the reply. 

The judge then went to his seat on the bench 
and crdered the child to be put under oath, and she 
was called to stand up on the platform before the 
desk. A deep quiet now prevailed as she stepped 
forth to full view, and raised her little hand to heaven. 
With trembling and faltering voice the oath was 
read to the child — it was read with tears. Deepest 
sadness prevailed throughout the multitudes. The 
judge himself could not conceal his tears. Like a 
spirit from another world she appeared on the scene, 
to meet the frown of a cold world alone, a testimony 
in herself of her murdered kindred and desolate 
home. Point after point her testimony was given 
in a clear, mellow voice. And as the questions pro- 
ceeded still deeper and deeper into the details of the 
awful tragedy, ever and anon a shudder convulsed 
her little frame, as she was depicting the scene. A 
wild agony seemed to creep over her features, and 
her countenance stared at times as in a trance. It 
lasted but for a moment, and again she was ready to 
be questioned with renewed resolution. At last, her 
little bosom heaved, and she drew a long breath. It 
was a sigh of relief. Her evidence was now fully 
in the hands of the court and was presented to the 
jury for their careful consideration. 

Here the court decided to adjourn the proceed- 
ings of the trial to the next day, to give the child 



164 FoiDitaiiis of Streams and Public Schools. 

rest and time to recruit before the terrible cross- 
questioning began. All agreed to this decision, and 
the defense were the first to withdraw, greatly dis- 
pleased at the course of the proceedings. The pris- 
oner was led out to his cell, pale as death and help- 
less. He had not the strength to bear his own weight. 
\Mie^i the little finger identified him and pointed him 
out as the murderer of her kindred, his eyes seemed 
to fall into their sockets, and he fainted away. He 
was carried more than led out of the court-room, 
leaning on the support of two strong men. 

The audience were in high glee over her testi- 
mony, and were surprised how nobly the little angel, 
as they called her, had borne herself through it all. 
The prosecution were in good spirits, and were ready 
to acknowledge that everything depended on her tes- 
timony. Unless the defense could bring her to con- 
tradict herself, and thus break her testimony, the 
prisoner's fate was sealed. For this purpose the at- 
torneys on the defense were in earnest consultation 
until midnight, while the other side had long since 
given themselves up to quiet slumbers. 

^lorning came, and with it the fiery ordeal of 
passing the little one through the cross-examination. 
Yet, when the course began, her friends soon saw 
they had nothing to fear. The little maid had but one 
unvarnished tale to tell, and her little mind stuck to 
every point of it with the tenacity of an expert. As 
soon as the doors opened the court-room was imme- 
diately filled to its utmost capacity. The judge spoke 
to the audience, admonishing them to keep the best 



Arrest, Trial and Execution, Etc. 165 

of order, so the trial could proceed, and that all 
who would not be quiet he would order to be removed 
from the hall. This prevented cheering and clapping 
of hands, as the blue-eyed little angel was again 
brought forth and presented herself on the stage in 
view of all. 

The defense committed the great blunder in giv- 
ing the cross-questions chiefly into the hands of a 
cross-grained and heartless lawyer, who undertook 
to intimidate the child and frighten her off her guard. 
He fired about half a dozen questions off at random 
in this style, when the large blue eyes wonderingly 
gazed at him for a moment, and then picked them 
up and hurled the answers at him, as though she en- 
joyed the fun of repartee. Another sally came forth 
in a still more boisterous and threatening tone, to 
which she made reply without intimidation. For she 
was put on her guard to expect what was coming, 
and she really smiled at the funny gestures of the odd 
man. But now the judge put a stop to the haughty 
gestures and boisterous questions, and demanded the 
lawyer to tone down his voice, and remember that he 
was talking to a child, who appeared to have more 
sense in her answers than he had in his questions. 
This caused no little amusement and laughter in the 
court-room. The brave counsel for the defense now 
smoothed his ruffled feathers and took his seat, like 
Chanticleer with his gizard dumbfounded, ceased to 
crow in his own defeat. So this scheme of blufif came 
to naught, and the counsel for the defense with their 
protege sat there in gloom, with a scowl on their 



166 Foiiufains of Streams and Public Schools. 

faces during the remainder of the trial. The other 
members of the defense apologized, and after asking 
the child a few more questions, announced their re- 
quest that the case be submitted to the pleadings be- 
fore the jury. 

The attorneys of the state were not long in pre- 
senting the case to the jury. Their pleadings lasted 
only till noon. The defense consumed the entire 
afternoon, and by their confusion and hesitation mani- 
fested that they were in evil plight, and had a bad 
case to defend. After instructing the jury as to the 
law, the judge ordered them to retire and find a ver- 
dict in harmony with the law and evidence. The hall 
still remained packed. Not one manifested a dispo- 
sition to leave, so eager were they to know and hear 
the verdict of those twelve men, on whose judgment 
depended the life of Sol Dempsy, the school teacher. 
A short hour passed away, during which the people 
became very restless and noisy in conversation, when 
the judge now requested them to come to order, that 
the jury was ready to report. A deep and painful 
silence at once prevailed, as the jury was seen filing 
out into their seats. The usual questions being put, 
the decision of the juiy was found unanimous in 
bringing in a verdict: "Guilty of murder in the first 
degree." 



RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE AS TO MORALS IN 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

!$ fS fS 

THREE years with their trials and perplexities had 
passed away, since the incidents described in the 
last chapter. Rolling Meads had been building up, 
and increasing its population all the while. It was 
now a village of considerable dimensions and import- 
ance. Beautiful buildings adorned every street, the 
residences of thrifty farmers and merchants. Men of 
energy and force of character had settled in the vil- 
lage and erected spacious dwellings in different styles, 
from the cottage to the castle. They had their lawns, 
shade trees, their gardens and flowers, their dogs and 
cats, their birds of every feather, their ponies and 
horses, as well as any other village, and an abundance 
of fresh spring water. It now had its railroads, its fine 
depots, its town hall, its churches and school buildings, 
not to forget its extensive promenades under elms, 
poplars and maples. 

The surrounding country was of exceptional fer- 
tility, and rev/arded the farmer with the abundance 
of its products. But it was especially renowned for 
the strong moral tone and courage of its inhabitants, 
which never failed to manifest itself in the social senti- 
ments expressed in their conversation, supported and 
refined by good Christian schools, embracing the most 
useful departments of a sound education. This 



168 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

brought families of refinement and true Christian 
culture to seek a home in Rolling- Meads. Here they 
could freely breathe the congenial atmosphere of their 
own beloved principles and sentiments, move amid 
the tried and precious customs of their Christian 
fathers and mothers, lead a quiet and useful life, end 
their days in peace, and repose with their kindred in 
the bosom of God's acre. 

About this time another literary treat was given 
at the Fountains of Streams, arranged by the Teachers' 
Association. ^lany such exhibitions were held dur- 
ing the three previous years, at which essays handled 
with the utmost skill in scholarship were read, discus- 
sing the most important themes. Yet, they do not 
relate directly to matters under consideration, and 
would therefore not justify us to dwell upon them at 
any length in this connection. This meeting of the 
Association to which we now refer, is of such import- 
ance to this history, that we can by no means pass 
it by, without a strict and faithful account of its pro- 
ceedings. For the sake of variety we would gladly 
have presented some of these master pieces of com- 
position, contained in these time-worn records now 
yellow with age. But we must confine ourselves to 
the task before us. 

This meeting was important, because the old burn- 
ing questions which agitated the community from its 
first settlement, were again taken up for discussion, 
assisted by the light of experience which the past 
years afiforded. The announcement of the discussion 
of these old subjects, brouo;ht such an immense audi- 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 169' 

ence together, intensely interested and desirous to 
learn the whole truth contained in the charge, that 
our common school system of education has been so 
abused, as to cause the tide of social evils to swell into 
such a flood, which threatens to deluge the country 
with disaster and decay, that the entire surrounding, 
country seemed aroused. They were determined to 
have the vexed question settled once for all, to have 
these notorious wrongs righted, and to stem up the 
source from whence the corrupting tide of crime and 
social evils flowed. Every audience chamber was now 
thrown open and filled with eager listeners. Still 
they came, the aisles and halls were so crowded, that 
there was no standing room left. 

The minister opened the exercises with an appro- 
priate divine service, interspersed with sweet melodies 
from the beautiful chimes on the tower, and singings 
by the choir with grand organ accompaniment. The 
opening was sublime, full of the sweetest music, charm- 
ing the audience with devotion and inspiring them 
with the lessons read in the awful presence of Him 
whom the angels obey and the archangels adore. 
Every one began to realize they had iiot come together 
in vain, but to listen to earnest, soul-stirring music, 
and to be edified with truths and principles ably de- 
fended and set forth by men of truth and soberness. 

The first essay was read by a little girl about ten 
years of age. She was as nature made her, easy in her 
movements without the dash of stage manners. -She 
was clad in pure white, with roses in her shining hair. 
She came forth upon the stage like a spirit from fairy 



170 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

land : none could hear the sprightly tread of her little 
feet. An eye-witness to the terrible tragedy recorded 
in previous chapters, her essay was her testimony. 
She stood to the front of the stage for a moment like 
a statue, holding the paper in her little hand, casting 
her bright blue eyes upon a concourse of several thous- 
and heads, and then began to read distinctly in a clear 
sweet voice : 

"Kind Friends I You are all truly welcome here to- 
day. I wish you all happy and delighted hearts, good 
cheer, friendship and good will, and hope you may 
remember this day with lasting benefits. I beg you 
to look over our frailties, and pass by our imperfec- 
tions, for we are nothing but dust and ashes, like the 
creatures of a day. Yet the truth is perfect, and is 
not subject to change like the moon. The truth can 
neither increase nor decrease, but endures forever the 
same. To know the truth and hold it fast, is the 
highest duty of mankind. For the truth will make 
you free indeed, and crown you at least with the glory 
of the sun and the stars. Truth leads to heaven and 
God : but falsehood is the dreary path of doubt, and 
leads through distress and despair to utter ruin and 
desolation. 

Often have I told my sad story, and as often have 
my friends asked to hear it again. So I went to work 
and wrote it down, that all who wish to know it. can 
read it for themselves, and I shall be spared the trouble 
of telling it any more. 

^^'e lived in the glen, not far from the big river. 
AA'e were poor, and had nothing for a home but a 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 171 

little log cabin with two small rooms. It was situ- 
ated in a woody glen on the side of a steep hill. My 
dear papa was getting old and feeble. He always 
had nothing else to support himself and his family, as 
he often told us, but two honest hands, that did an 
immense sight of work for other people. He often 
told me and my little brother Tommy, that he married 
mama when he was an old bachelor. When we 
would ask him what a bachelor was, he would laugh 
and tell us to ask mama. Then she told us, and we 
•all laughed. Mama was always busy getting some- 
thing to put on the table, and making and patching 
our clothes, for they were sorry enough. We tried 
to help her all we could, for she was a good mama 
and we all loved her very much but we were too little, 
and could not do much to help her on with the work. 
At evenings around the bright light and the warm 
fire, she told us many stories from the good book, and 
taught us how to be good children and to say our little 
prayers. Tommy always wanted to hear funny stories 
about war and fighting. He laughed at the story of 
Samson killing the lion, and the little boy David kill- 
ing the giant Goliath with a stone and sling. Tommy 
and I often talked together at our play about the 
stories mama told us, and Tommy would ask me 
how it was, then I told him, and we laughed. We 
built little houses in the glen, and covered them with 
sticks and moss, where we had our playthings, Tom- 
m}^, the baby and I. There we could see the nicest 
kind of birds, and hear them sing. We could see the 
green trees and gather flowers. We could hear the 



172 Fountains of Streams aiid Public Schools. 

splashing waters in the brook, where we had our sports, 
and caught the fish, and then mama fried them for 
us. We thought they were so good. Tommy was 
a good boy and feh happy, when he caught a fish 
and did not get his line tangled in the bushes. 

It is now over three years ago, when I was seven 
and my little brother Tommy was five years old, and 
little baby Alice was only eight months old, when I 
saw them all for the last time in this world. A year 
before, our uncle Fred had passed away. He was a 
bachelor, papa's older brother. In his will he gave 
everything he had to my papa. He was worth about 
six thousand dollars. We were sorry when Uncle 
Fred died, for he was always good and kind to us. 
Often when papa had no work and could not buy any- 
thing for us to eat, uncle Fred would come and fetch 
us heaping baskets full of good things, and nice 
clothes for us children. And he would take us on his 
knees and hug and kiss, and sing such funny songs, 
it made us all laugh. But now he is no more, and in 
death, he did not forget us, and gave us all he had. 
How sorry we were. 

We could now buy some decent clothes, so we 
could go to church like other people, without being 
laughed at. and Tommy and I could go to school with 
other people's children. And to think all this was not 
to be. Oh dear, how soon it was all over. The good 
days just began to dawn, when a black cloud fell in» 
and put out. the brig-ht sun forever. 

Cold and wild blew the wind. The snow was deep 
and drifting. Papa had come home in the evening 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals^ Etc. 173 

almost stiff with cold, with the money that was to 
make us happy in his pocket. Mama soon got him 
a warm meal, while Tommy and I just danced around 
him with glee, asking him many questions, and little 
Alice crowed in the cradle, to show that she felt happy 
too. We asked him what he was going to do with the 
money? He said he was going to buy a farm and a 
nice home for us. Then I wanted to know if that 
would take all the money. 'Oh no,' said he, 'I will still 
have enough left to buy horses and cows and pigs, and 
other things for the farm. Tommy was glad to hear 
we would have horses and pigs, but I hoped we would 
have enough left to get some things for the house and 
to wear. 'Yes,' said papa, 'we should have every thing 
we needed,' and asked me and Tommy what we wanted. 
I told him I wanted a new dress, hat and shoes, and 
a new second reader. Tommy wanted a fur cap and 
high shoes, and a book to learn. He wanted a new 
red sled to scoot down the big hill. 'Oh, I'll just go 
flyen', won't I Lilly?' So he said and was very glad 
And we were for once, a very, very happy family. 

Then, when mama was putting away the dishes 
and it was getting late, all at once there came a fear- 
ful rap at the door. When mama went and opened 
it, an ugly villian stepped in with a big club, and felled 
her to the floor. And when papa ran to help her, 
he was struck down too, so was brother Tommy and 
the baby Alice, all hurt and helpless. I ran into the 
next room, and when he was looking for me, I slipped 
out at another door, and ran for the big road as fast 
as I could, and the ugly man was after me. But I saw 



174 Fonntaius of Streams and Public Schools. 

two men driving by in a sleigh, and I cried to them for 
help. They heard me, and when they saw the ugly 
man after me and heard me cry that he murdered my 
parents, they both leaped out of the sleigh and chased 
the man down the road. They soon came back and 
went into the house with me. It was very cold and 
the moon was shining brightly. Then the doctor, 
for one of them was the good doctor of Rolhng 
Meads, found by examining that papa, Tommy and 
Alice was dead already. He dressed mama's 
wound, but thought she could not live long. She died 
before morning. Oh ! what a night ! There lay the 
dearest ones I ever had in the world, all in blood ! 
Then came the sad parting from loved ones, and they 
were buried together under the deep snow. And 
w^hen spring time came I planted their graves with 
flowers, and often would I go there and call for 
Tommy and little Alice, and talk to them as we used to 
in our little play-house on the hill. But they rested 
on in their quiet beds, and heard not the voice of their 
sister calling. 

I often sit there alone, and listen to the sighing 
of the wind through the trees, and the noise of the 
waters as they pour down over their rocky beds. I 
watch around my friends on summer evenings, and 
love to see the moon and the stars, shining through 
the rifted clouds. So our lives and our joys pass 
away, like the flying cloud. Then I'd wish the wind 
and the noisy waters would be still, until I could sing 
the song our mama taught us. I listen, but my 
friends are silent in the grave, and the wild wind howls 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 17^ 

through the branches. Then I wonder if their spirits 
are in the voice of the wind ; I wonder if they think of 
me and of what I am doing. I think of my Httle broth- 
er's sweet face, and the bright eyes of my dear sister 
AHce, and think I see them as I saw them in our Uttle 
cabin home. Now their spirits are with the angels, 
and play with the sunbeams of glory. They shine like 
happy stars around the throne of Jesus, the Lamb of 
God. But narrow and deep in the cold earth their 
bodies are lying. I walk around their graves. Four 
stones mark the place of their rest. Silently they 
sleep; low is their pillow of dust. Where now is the 
fair and lovely brow, the sweet smile of joy? 

The birds make music over their graves. There 
I love to hear the robin sing. The wren builds her 
nest in the leaves under the flowers. The ant, the 
field-mouse and the mole, build their homes and rear 
hillocks in the soft ground, and keep it warm. The 
last time I visited them, there was a nest of young 
rabbits on Tommy's grave. He always liked rabbits 
and squirrels so much. They have their company as 
well as solitude. There is life in the grave. I can 
hear the trees like harps sigh in the storm and the 
blast. The stream echoes many voices in the valley. 
The moon and the stars keep watch over them at 
night, and the bright sunbeams warm the tender flow- 
ers and the green sod that grows on their lowly beds. 

I wonder what the dead do ? Do they eat, work, 
hear music, and are they merry like we that live? 
Do the little children play? I have listened, but can- 
not hear them. I have called, but they gave no an^ 



176 Fountains of Streams and PiLblic Schools. 

swer. Why is it ? Oh ! I almost forgot ; they say the 
dead sleep. I have often heard them dream in their 
sleep. But I cannot hear them dream in the ground. 
Oh, how deep they sleep ! Sleep ! — yes. Oh, then 
sleep on ! It is well. I wish I were dead, for I have 
not slept these many nights, and my pillow where I 
laid my head was all wet with tears. ^luch better it 
were to sleep forever, than to be troubled with horrid 
thoughts and dreams, if God so pleased. There the 
wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at 
rest. I shall meet them all at home. I shall see them 
all again in a brighter, better world, where death is 
unknown, and where murderers cannot break through 
to kill and steal. 

After a long time had passed away they caught 
the wicked man and brought him to trial. ^ly friends 
told me, that as I was the only eye-witness of the 
murder, if I could not testify, the murderer would go 
free. I told them I could testify to nothing but the 
truth, and that the truth was stronger than falsehood. 
So when they wanted to place me on the witness stand, 
the lawyers of the bloody man objected, and said 1 
was too young, and could not testify. Then the judge 
came down to me and asked me a few questions. I 
told him if I would say an untruth, I would be pun- 
ished, and God would be angry with me. He asked 
me where I learned that? I told him at Sunday 
school and from my mama. Then he took his seat 
and gave orders that I should be sworn. When I 
stood there alone with my hand above my head, I 
heard many people crying and wiping their faces, and 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. Ill 

I could not tell what it all meant. It is said that the 
murderer was convicted and executed on my testi- 
mony alone. What a good thing it was that I went 
to Sunday school and had such a good mama. For 
if I had been bad. I could not have given the facts as 
I did. Wicked people cannot testify and hold fast to 
the truth. In the Sunday school we learn to know our 
Maker, what He wants of us, and how to live and die 
in the hope of a better world. 

Yours truly ! 

Lillian Morven. 

She closed, and looking up at the audience, she 
turned about to take her seat, when two other chil- 
dren approached her with a beautiful crown of flow- 
ers, and placed it on her head, while one bouquet after 
the other came flying from every direction in the 
audience, until she was literally surrounded with a 
stack of flowers. She stood there crowned like the 
queen of May, or an angel from the bowers of Eden, 
encompassed with a halo of glory. Then came the 
little girls of the Sunday School, and each took up 
a bouquet in their little arms, and formed a pro- 
cession on the stage around their queen, and all 
sang: "Nearer my God to Thee." Glad tears were 
shed, true pledges of kind and sympathetic hearts. 

After the choir rendered another beautiful piece 
of music, the master of ceremonies called out the 
name of Prof. A. Brent as the next essayist. He 
was requested as a man of unquestioned ability and 
scholarship to write upon a subject which consti- 
tuted the very kernel, sum and substance of the con- 



178 Fountains of Streams and Puhlic Schools. 

troversy concerning the Bible in the pubUc schools. 
He read the following paper : 

"Essays have been read in these halls, which 
have aroused much feeling, because they treated on 
matters v.-hich intimately involve the dearest treas- 
ures of civilized society. The right of the state to 
foster, teach and protect religious instruction in its 
schools, its neglect to exercise this prerogative re- 
sulting in its own decline and fall, are subjects which 
have been treated at length, and with ability Yet, 
not all are satisfied with the results. This was not 
and cannot be expected. Where every one is free 
to form his own judgment, a variety of opinions must 
necessarily arise. There are but two spheres, into 
which every variety of view or opinion must fall ; 
they must be either correct or incorrect, true or false. 
It is the problem of civilized and intelligent people, 
to canvass and sift the views and opinions of men 
concerning the most important interests of society, 
to establish and hold fast the true and beneficial, and 
to overthrow and cast away the false and dangerous. 
Truth and falsehood both have their sincere and in- 
sincere defenders. It is a further task of the en- 
lightened part of community to gain the sincere for 
the truth, and thus secure a strong majority, thereby 
assuring the safety and welfare of the dearest and most 
precious treasures ever committed by Providence to 
the trust of mortals. Falsehood and insincerity have 
no right before God and common sense to exist, and 
their defenders have no rights or conscience worthy 
of the least regard. 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals^ Etc. 179 

This brings us to our subject, which is the na- 
tural rights of conscience relative to the Bible in the 
common schools. We must investigate the nature 
of conscience, and determine in what it consists. 
Conscience is the moral sense, faculty, power or prin- 
ciple within us which decides on our actions or affec- 
tions, whether they be right or wrong, and approves 
or condemns them. Our ideas of right and wrong 
are the result of the combined actions of the intel- 
lectual and moral faculties. One may think it wrong 
under all circumstances to tell a lie. Another may 
think a white lie justifiable. The conscience of the 
first would censure, the conscience of the other ap- 
prove. But conscience is the same in both. The 
one has its eyes opened on this subject, the other is 
blind. Conscience does not consist in the will, nor 
in mere information, much less in prejudice. It is 
the executive moral faculty of our nature. It prompts 
us to do what we are persuaded and convinced is 
right, and restrains us from doing what we know is 
wrong. 

A free conscience under all circumstances knows 
and does the thing that is right, and knows and 
opposes that which is wrong. This is the only con- 
science for which our government and its laws were 
established to protect and defend. To have a free 
conscience, is to have the liberty to do right and to 
reject the wrong. Conscience, as the voice of God 
within us, never dictates or prompts us to do wrong. 
A conscience which is in bondage and not free, is 
ignorant of what is right and wrong, and may decide 



180 FoiDifa'uis of Sfrejuis and Public ScJwols. 

in favor of the wrong and prompt us to do it. Our 
government and its laws were never established to 
protect, shield or allow such a conscience as this. 
In this case, it is not the voice of God, but the voice 
of ignorance and superstition. 

Xow. as a free conscience is that moral sense 
within us that always desires the right and is op- 
posed to the wrong, the liberty of conscience is noth- 
ing else than the liberty to know the facts and prin- 
ciples necessary to enable it to act intelligently and 
rightly. Otherwise, it is a slave of ignorance, and 
is not free to do either right or wrong intelligently. 
To have a free conscience is to have the power of 
choice between good and evil. But this power only 
comes with the knowledge of good and evil. This 
knowledge being given, the enlightened conscience 
always dictates and prompts us to do the good and 
avoid the evil, and this is called the voice of God. 
A free conscience knows the right and good, and 
does them from choice freely : it also knows the wrong 
and evil, and freely avoids them, and will not allow 
itself to be urged or forced by any external necessity. 
The liberty of conscience involves its right to be in- 
formed, else it cannot be free. This is the greatest, 
noblest and most inestimable among all the God- 
given rights of man. 

It follows that a pure attachment to this sacred 
right of conscience, ought to be formed in the minds 
of school children by every proper means, otherwise 
it is impossible to educate truly patriotic citizens. 
Thev must learn that conscience is the facultv bv 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 181 

which we judge our actions by comparing them with 
God's law. They must learn that this law is so much 
more obligatory than any law of man, that the duty 
of obeying it is the foundation of all the rights of 
conscience. It is the very first and highest duty of 
all teachers of youth to enlighten the conscience by 
improving its discriminating powers, by exercising 
them in reflecting on their character, their disposi- 
tion and actions, and by referring them to the su- 
preme law of God, endorsed by the laws of our coun- 
try, and the universal intelligence of civilized hu- 
manity. A free conscience is the supreme judge of 
all human actions, because it is the voice of God. 
It is impossible to teach a right notion of conscience 
that does not at the same time lead to a belief in 
a Supreme Judge, who is to judge the intents and 
thoughts of the heart, and as a consequence awakens 
a desire to do His will, whether written on the heart, 
or revealed in the Bible. 

The cry for light and information for the be- 
nighted human conscience, was the author that first 
proclaimed our liberties. Hence it is granted, that 
there can be no liberty of conscience without the 
knowledge of God. Put the Bible under the ban, 
seal it up, proscribe it, and you put an end to the 
liberty of the human conscience, and heathens and 
barbarians will fill the land. This republic could never 
have had an existence, were it not for the fact that 
it has from the beginning always recognized the 
Bible as the book containing the revealed truth of 
God. You can burn up all other books on religion 



182 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

and morality, and destroy every remembrance of their 
teachings, and the society of our people would still 
go on as before. The freedom of conscience is far 
more precious than all human love, or the wealth 
of the world. For such a conscience is no longer 
the servant of sin, but of righteousness. God's good 
word has enlightened it and made it free by His grace, 
and it should no more be entangled by the yoke of 
human bondage. With this love of freedom and of 
God, society can exist and prosper without the help 
of human fancies and powers. But take away the 
Bible and remove all the remembrance of its teach- 
ings, and there will be nothing left on which the 
existence and safety of our country can depend. As 
far as you banish it from schools and other places of 
public trust, so far you estabHsh despotism. No pope 
or human government by its laws and power has any 
right whatever to lord it over the human conscience 
by any teachings of their own. The knowledge and 
principle of right and wrong rest on no human will 
or power. Without the Supreme Being it is impos- 
sible to prove that anything is either morally right 
or wrong. The great truth has gone forth, it is 
carried to the ends of the earth, that no man shall 
be held to render an account to any human tribunal 
for his belief, over which he himself has no control. 
What God and manhood want, is an open Bible, and 
a conscience free to believe or disbelieve it. We 
do not want force, one way or tlie other. God's 
truth needs no force of any kind, no protection, no 
advantage of the world to work its wav and accom- 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 183 

pllsh its purpose. All it wants is the free arena of 
the universe, free inquiry, free speech and a free press. 

Here let every science sound its plummet, and 
cast its line. Let science scale the firmament to the 
bounds of flaming space, where angels tremble as 
they gaze : let it sound the ocean's depth ; let it pene- 
trate the secrets of the earth; let it lay bare to man's 
astonished vision all the footprints of Adam's race 
since he left the burning gates of Eden to go down 
into the world where the curse smoked before him ; 
let science search all animated nature ; and after ac- 
complishing its utmost, it will only serve the more 
to praise the Author of the Bible, whose righteous- 
ness is from everlasting, and whose truth endureth 
forever. The Bible is its own defense. It needs not 
the lore of science or the power of states. But the 
power of states and the lore of science need the Bible, 
to direct and make them free. Therefore let the 
Bible be everywhere as free as the air we breathe. 

Now, as the liberty of conscience consists in the 
deliverance from the bondage of ignorance and the 
right to be informed and enlightened, so that it may 
be free to direct itself according to the eternal prin- 
ciples of righteousness, its liberty consists in the 
power to practice the golden rule ; do unto others 
as you wish them to do to you. We must allow 
others the same liberty we ask for ourselves. Those 
who would expel the Bible from the public schools, 
have no liberty for any conscience but for their own. 
But the law of God and of the government recognizes 
no libertv of conscience to do evil. Conscience lives 



184 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

and lets live. It is satisfied with its own, and seeks no 
injury to others. The Bible in the public schools does 
injury to nobody's conscience. Banish it from the 
schools, and with it you cast away the highest stand- 
ard of right and wrong to which the conscience can 
ever attain, the golden rule. Then you have it your 
own way, the way of ignorance and despotism, where 
no conscience can ever be free. God's law alone is 
the only schoolmaster that leads the conscience to 
this freedom. Throw it away with the Bible, and the 
result will be, that the conscience of all will have no 
standard according to which they must conform. The 
wretched quicksand of fluctuating and changing hu- 
mian opinion, will become the criterion of popular 
education, the opinions of the Turk, the Jew and 
the Papists. 

To satisfy all, and especially those who want the 
Bible out of the public schools, the tendency is to 
make the schools Christless, but not altogether God- 
less. As the Bible is not allowed any authority in 
the common schools, and as they cannot get along 
without the religious sentiment, the worst of all sec- 
tarianism is quietly gaining precedence, and develop- 
ing pure deism, which they think is a creed com- 
mon to all. This creed teaches a Supreme Being, a 
Divine Providence, as they find it taught by modern 
deists. It requires all Christian denominations to 
divest their creeds of every distinctive feature, and 
what is left shall be the creed of the public schools. 
Against this creed it is claimed, no one can bring a 
reasonable objection. But this deism is not taught 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 185 

in the Bible, nor has Christianity anything in com- 
mon with it. This deism differs from heathenism 
only in the fact that it worships one idol, instead of 
many. This fact is so prevalent that you can learn 
it from any teacher in the public schools. This old 
sect of deism, varnished with the borrowed elements 
of Christianity, of charity and love modified by sel- 
fishness, like a serpent, with the powerful coils of an 
anaconda, would fasten itself upon our personal, po- 
litical and religious freedomm, by corrupting the minds 
of our youth in the public schools with this infamous 
doctrine of barbarism. Vigilance requires us to pro- 
tect the defense and safeguard of our country's liber- 
ties and institutions. As long as the Bible is allowed 
to enter our common schools everywhere, there is no 
danger of any sect of any kind gaining control of the 
human conscience of the coming generations ; be- 
cause the Bible is the greatest champion on earth 
of equal rights for all and liberty to all for the worship 
of God according to their own free conscience. 

This is the birthright of every American citizen,, 
the right and privilege to be informed and instructed,, 
and to be able to judge for himself in religious mat- 
ters. The right to know the truth and the whole 
truth abides for time and eternity. The child has a 
natural, personal right to be informed of the ulti- 
mate source and authority of the teachings of mor- 
ality and virtue, and the state has no right or power 
to close the teacher's lips. The state exists for no 
other purpose but to protect and defend the fullest 
exercise of these rights. Therefore the state must fur- 



186 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

nish free access for the mind to the material upon 
which conscience is to act, and then leave the person 
free to follow its dictates. This is what Christianity 
teaches and requires, and for this reason alone, the 
Bible is indispensable in the public schools. It al- 
lows no force against the cgnvictions of conscience. 
God wants free-will service, not the service of slaves, 
The Romish antichrist and his advisors are opposed 
to this fundamental doctrine, hence they are opposed 
to the Bible itself, either in the public school or fam- 
ily, that they may be the despots of the human con- 
science. 

There is but one limit which the Bible fixes over 
the rights of conscience, and this is the golden rule. 
And whatever does not conform to this rule, can by 
no sophistry whatever be forced into the region of 
the liberty of conscience. The plea that the Bible 
ought to be banished from the public schools because 
it is an offense to Papists and infidels, and because 
their children would be exposed to its silent teach- 
ings, is the plea of despotism, and not that of the 
liberty of conscience. For the conscience cannot be 
free, unless it knows and loves the golden rule or 
moral law. This plea consistently carried out would 
require us to give up all our liberties and privileges. 
It would require us to tear down all our Protestant 
institutions and laws, our churches with their heaven- 
pointing steeples, simply because the child of the athe- 
ist as it passes by them on its way to school, might 
thereby accidentally be reminded that there is a God 
in heaven. 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 187 

The Turk, the Jew and the Papist, in defense of 
tlieir lowest of all moral standards set up the plea, that 
the Bible in the public schools is opposed to the liberty 
of conscience, because it does not allow everyone to 
worship God according to its dictates. To support 
this false plea they bring in the argument that they are 
directly taxed to support a religion which they de- 
spise, and which is offensive to them. But they are 
not taxed either directly or indirectly to support any 
particular religious belief. They are like all other 
people taxed to support the liberty of conscienece to 
be informed and instructed in those matters which 
the state regards as necessary for good citizenship, 
leaving the matter of the faith necessary unto salvation 
free to each individual, in which the state never inter- 
feres, nor concerns itself. This argument runs against 
the general and state government, for they support 
the institutions of all different beliefs with the taxes 
of all the people, which is just as much and more, 
according to their argument, opposed to the rights 
of conscience, than the Bible in the public schools. 
For the Bible is not there to teach any religious be- 
hef for the salvation of souls, but simply to shield and 
protect the freedom of all.. To oppose the Bible in 
the public schools, therefore involves treason against 
the government itself. For the very spirit that 
breathes life into our government, supports and de- 
fends the very fundamental ground upon which all 
beliefs and institutions of religion are free and pos- 
sible, and demands taxes from every one for this pur- 
pose. The fact prevails, that every one pays tax ro 



188 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

support this privilege, and not in its proper sense, 
the rehgious behef. The fundamental law is, that all 
shall have equal rights and privileges. This is granted 
as absolutely necessary to constitute a state which 
tolerates all, and persecutes none. 

This is the fundamental law of the state estab- 
lished by our fathers, which every one who is a 
patriotic citizen is glad to support and defend with his 
life. It is the sheet-anchor of all the hopes of mod- 
ern civilization. No conscience can be wronged or 
injured by what it freely does, knowing right from 
wrong. For when it thus by taxes assists others to 
confess and teach their belief, it thereby purchases the 
privilege to teach and confess its own. This is the 
principle for which our Protestant forefathers all 
fought and sacrificed, and thus long ago solved the 
question of the Bible in the public schools, once for all. 
Our fathers were weary of thralldom and oppression. 
They determined that the human conscience shall not 
be enslaved in this country. It shall have the privi- 
lege to exercise this freedom throughout the land 
everywhere, whenever any one may ask a reason for 
the hope that is in him, and hence also in the pubhc 
schools. No law shall be made to exclude the Bible, 
or to enforce its teacings of future salvation into the 
public schools, or anywhere else in all the land. There 
every religious belief has free footing without perse- 
cution. Conscience asks only what it freely and cheer- 
fully gives. Of course, when our fathers established 
these laws, they knew well enough that they were 
Christ's teachings. Christ never forced Himself or 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 189 

His teachings upon anyone. He commanded His 
apostles to leave the house or city in peace that would 
not accept the Gospel message. The great apostle 
of the Gentiles prays for this law, that the Word of 
God, the Bible, may run, or have free course. Let 
it have a chance without persecution and hindrance, 
to work its own way. It asks no more but equal 
privileges with its competitors, and God, not man, wih 
give it the victory. 

We and our fathers of the Reformation, and of the 
Revolution as well, believe in open Bibles, free to all. 
God is His own interpreter ; He needs no pope to tell 
Him who He is, or what His counsels are. The Bible 
is not of any private interpretation of any one man. 
The argument is as silly as it is stale, that the teachers 
in public schools do not know how to explain and 
interpret it, and therefore the Bible will be a- 
bused. If the abuse of the Bible destroys its use, 
then the papists should give it up entirely, for they 
abuse the Bible .and its teachings more than any one 
else ever did. The Bible, for all that, is abused every- 
where, more than any other book, and especially in 
the most notorious pulpits of the professed Christian 
ministers. Let it be used or abused. Let it be free 
to hold in the hand, or trample under foot. For thus 
men are distinguished from swine. Leave the conse- 
quences with God, He will take care of them. Let it 
enter prisons as well as pulpits, cars and workshops, 
societies and schools, the abodes of vice as well as the 
regions of social virtue. Let it preach to all the nations 
and everv human creature, for it is intended for all. 



190 Fouiitaiiis of Streams and Public Schools. 

All it asks is, that it may have a free course, a free race 
in the competitions with the religions of the world, 
and God Himself will glorify it over all its com- 
petitors. 

That the state has the right to teach that religion 
and morality which is most in harmony with the 
spirit of its own laws and institutions, is self evident. 
Otherwise the state would be against itself, and could 
not stand. To deny the state this right is to deny its 
right to exist. Without this right the state would be- 
come the abode of slaves and despots. Of course, no 
one denies the fact that parents have the first natural 
rights to the child, and it is chiefly their duty to edu- 
cate it. But both parent and child claim the protec- 
tion of the state, and when the parent neglects this 
duty or is unable to educate the child, the state has 
the right and duty to make arrangements for its proper 
education, for the state's own benefit and safety. Xow 
in this the state does not and cannot create rights. 
Alan was possessed by nature of all his essential and 
inalienable rights before the state ever existed. So 
the family with its rights was before the state. The 
state exists for no other purpose but to protect these 
rights which come from a higher source than the state, 
so that they can be enjoyed to their fullest privilege. 
The state has no right either to destroy or limit these 
essential and inalienable rights of the individual or 
family. The highest and first duty of the state is to 
protect these rights of the family, and defend them 
bv its power from every tmfriendly and unrighteous 
violence. 



Rights of Conscience as to M orals ^ Etc. 191 

The proper place for the child's education when 
its mind first begins to develop, is unquestionably 
under the eye of its parents, and their solicitude should 
watch over its education up to man and womanhood. 
Communism and nihilism insanely demand that all 
the wants of children, bodily and spiritual, must be 
supplied by the state, and for this reason would abolish 
the family. Nature teaches that the state rather be- 
longs to the citizen, than the citizen to the state. So 
the citizen can make use of the state to help him pro- 
tect his rights and to educate his children. Xhe state 
exists for no other purpose than to promote the best 
interests and welfare of all its citizens, and to do this it 
must protect their natural and essential rights, so as 
to give the largest privileges that will promote the 
welfare of all. 

The very essence of Protestantism was the utter 
denial of the authority of political government over 
matters of religious faith and worship. This prin- 
ciple never had a more powerful defender than Martin 
Luther, or a greater advocate than John Milton. One 
hundred years before Thomas Jefferson was born, re- 
ligious freedom was established in this country. It 
was estabhshed by men who had been persecuted, not 
for infidelity, but for religious opinions. They wished 
to secure freedom of conscience, fredom to worship 
God according to its dictates. For they knew that 
no man could be legislated into the enjoyment of a 
religious and devout spirit. Wm. Penn established 
this principle in the laws of Pennsylvania as follows : 
'Almighty God, being only Lord of conscience. Father 



192 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

of lights and spirits ; it is enacted that no person at 
any time hereafter Hving in this province, who shall 
confess and acknowledge one Almighty God to be 
the Creator, Upholder and Ruler of the world, and that 
professes him or herself obliged in conscience to live 
peaceably and justly under the civil government, shall 
in any wise be molested or prejudiced for his or her 
conscientious persuasion or practice, nor shall he or 
she at any time be compelled to frequent or maintain 
any religious worship, plan or ministry whatever, con- 
trary to his or her mind, but shall freely and fully enjoy 
his or her Christian liberty in that respect, without any 
interruption or reflection ; and if any person shall 
abuse or deride any other for his or her different per- 
suasion and practice in a matter of religion, such shall 
be looked upon as a disturber of the peace, and be 
punished accordingly.' 

And to prevent the idolatry and superstition of 
atheism or theism from having any rights whatever 
imder the plea of an enslaved and perverted con- 
science, it further provides : 'Whoever shall speak 
loosely thereof and profanely of Almighty God, Jesus 
Christ, the Holy Spirit, or Scriptures of Truth, and 
is therefore legally convicted, shall forfeit and pay five 
pounds, and be imprisoned for five days in the house 
of correction.' Judge Duncan, commenting on this 
enactment says : 'Thus this wise legislature framed 
this great body of laws for a Christian country and 
Christian people. Infidelity was then rare, and no 
infidels were among the first colonists. To this day 
the principles of Christianity are held to be a part of 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 193 

the common law of Pennsylvania, with liberty of con- 
science for all, which it teaches. So. also the consti- 
tution of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and all the 
original state constitutions. On the same law in the 
constitution of the United States, Judge Story com- 
ments thus : 'the real object of the amendment was not 
to countenance, much less to advance Mohamedanisni, 
or Judaism, or Infidelity, but to exclude all rivalry 
among Christian sects, and to prevent any national 
ecclesiastical establishment, which should give to a 
hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national gov- 
ernment. It thus cuts off the means of religious per- 
secution (the vice and pest of former ages), and of the 
subversion of the rights of conscience in matters of 
religion, which had ben trampled upon almost from 
the days of the apostles to the present age. Because 
the governments of Europe interposed betwent the 
Creator and His creature, intercepting the devotion ot 
the latter, or permitting it only under political regu- 
lations, multitudes fled from an injustice so gross, and 
sought an asylum in America.' 

Chancelor Kent, commenting on these provis- 
ions in Vol. I, p. 657, says : 'The free exercise and 
enjoyment of religious profession and worship may 
be considered as one of the absolute rights of individ- 
uals, recognized in our American constitutions, and 
secured to them by law.' These provisions are not 
the characters of infidelity, of Judaism or Popery. They 
are the. monuments of Protestant Christian philam- 
thropy and statesmanship. They are designed to pro- 
mote true Christianity, the very essence of which is, 



194 Foil 11 fains of Streams and Public Schools. 

the accountability of every man to God alone for his 
faith and conduct. 

Now, as all the fundamental laws and institu- 
tions of our government, grow out of and have their 
life and sap from these principles of Christianity, it 
is evident that our government was established for 
their defense, over against the contrary principles 
of atheism, theism or papistical jugglery. And as 
these laws and government have in view a Christian 
conmionwealth, and excludes any other religion from 
gaining precedence as idolatry and barbarism, and 
as all Christian sects draw their teachings from the 
pages of Holy Scripture, it is silly and utterly un- 
reasonable to say, that the Bible is a sectarian book, 
or makes sects. The proposition needs only to be 
stated to show its absurdity. The constitution rec- 
ognizes the Bible as teaching but one fundamental 
and harmonious religion, and provides against sec- 
tarianism in the affairs of state. If the Bible is a 
sectarian book, then the American government is a 
sect, because it pre-eminently recognizes the influ- 
ence and teachings of the Bible in all its laws. This 
papists, Jews, theists and atheists and all idolatrous 
religions acknowledge, and yet they flock to this 
country to enjoy the pricelss boon of Christian 
liberty, which they cannot have in countries under 
the mfluence of their own religion. If these people 
were really consistent or even conscientious in their 
plea against the Bible in the public schools, they 
would go where their own belief and worship prevails 
as the reliction of the countrv. 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 195 

Daniel Webster, in his works, Vol. VI, p. i6i, 
says: 'But this objection to the multitude and dif- 
ferences of sects is but the old story, the old infidel 
argument. It is notorious that there are certain great 
religious truths which are admitted and believed by 
all Christians. All believe in the existence of God. 
All believe in the immortality of the soul. All believe 
in the responsibility in another world, for our con- 
duct in this. All believe in the authority of the New 
Testament. And can not all these great truths be 
taught to children without their minds being per- 
plexed with clashing doctrines and sectarian contro- 
versies? Most certainly they can. And to compare 
secular with religious matters, what would become of 
the organizations of society, what would become of 
man as a social being, in connection with the social 
system, if we applied this mode of reasoning to him 
in his social relations ? We have a constitutional gov- 
ernment, about the powers, and limitations, and uses 
of which there is a vast amount of differences of be- 
lief. Your honors have a body of laws now before 
you, in relation to which differences of opinion, al- 
most innumerable, are daily spread before the courts ; 
in all these we see clashing doctrines of opinions ad- 
vanced daily, to as great an extent as in the religious 
world. Apply the reasoning against the Bible as a 
sectarian book to human institutions, and you will 
tear them all up by the root, as you would tear all 
divine institutions up by the root, if such reasoning 
is to prevail.' p. 163. Those who do not value 
Christianity, nor believe in its importance to society 



196 Foiintairiis of Streams and Public Schools. 

and individuals, cavil about sects and schisms, and 
ring monotonous changes upon the shallow and so 
often refuted objections formed on alleged variety 
of discordant creeds and clashing doctrines.' 

There is no doubt that sectarianism is an abuse 
of Christianity. But what sane person would say, 
that its abuse is an argument against it? The most 
powerful evidence of its divine character, is that it 
has been able to carry the whole load of abuses and 
outrages that have been perpetrated in its name. In- 
stead of this sectarian abuse of Christianity being 
injurious, it is rather, under God's kind providence, 
beneficial to the life and force of society. It was the 
abuse of Christianity that drove our fathers to these 
shores, and settled the territory along the Atlantic 
coast, and led to the mighty institutions of the most 
enhghtened country on earth. The French papists 
were here before the English, and occupied the land 
clear up to the St. Lawrence and the lakes, down the 
western rivers to the Gulf of ^lexico. and held this 
country as in a vise. But it was taken from them 
by the energy of William Pitt, and converted into a 
land of freedom, under religious instruction in free 
schools and religious institutions, with the people 
living in happiness and prosperity. So far as it is 
a benefit to the state, it cannot be denied that reli- 
gious dilterences well defined, firmly maintained and 
fully developed, are energies within society that stand 
out prominent among the forces that are carrying 
us onward in the improvement of our civilization. It 
shows that our people are not asleep, as were the 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 197 

people of the dark ages. Eternal vigilance is the 
price of liberty. Let every citizen be well informed 
of the religious differences and political issues that 
may arise, and American liberty is secured. 

A sect is a separated part of the human famil}^, 
a branch cut ofif from the tree. A christian sect is 
an -organized part of the visible Christian Church, cut 
off and separated from it, and independent of it in 
its teachings and practice. All Christian sects, how- 
ever, claim to have their authority for their teaching 
and practice from the Bible. No sect has a special 
monopoly on the Bible. It belong to all alike. Christ 
gave His Gospel to the whole world, and did not con- 
fine it to a sect or His Church. Consequently no 
sect has any right in conscience to object to its use 
by others. For as soon as it does this, it condemns 
itself. For all men by our laws are protected in the 
free and equal rights to the gifts and blessings of 
heaven. 

If the introduction of the Bible into the public 
schools is contrary to conscience , if its teachings there 
is an act of intolerance to conscience as papal idol- 
aters claim, then to preach and spread it abroad any- 
where is an intrusion upon conscience. But by this 
argument God Himself would be doing violence to 
conscience in offering His Word to all men on pain 
of eternal punishment on whomsoever does not re- 
ceive and believe it. The atheists claim, that the in- 
culcation of any moral precept on the authority of 
God's Word, is a violation to conscience. But if 
there is no prevailing vmiversal right concentered in 



198 Foiintauis of Streams and Public Schools. 

one perfect personal authority, then we will be left to 
the vacillating and shifting opinions of licentious 
humanity, where right and wrong change places every 
hour, hke the ever-shifting sands of the sea. 

They must not think that their ignorant and 
idolatrous conscience is a law or a rule to all the 
rest, or that their money alone supports our public 
schools. They forget that they are in a sad minority, 
and that others pav to support those schools. And 
of all the supposed cases against the Bible in the 
public schools, deists, atheists, ^Mohammedans, Jews, 
idolaters, — heathen and papal, of all these forms of 
conscience, which shall be taken as the rule of re- 
ligious liberty ? According to the argument against 
the Bible, they ought all to be taken. But this would 
create endless feuds ; every one would complain in 
turn of religious scruples and beHefs ignored and 
outraged by the other. They would contend against 
each other more fiercely than any or all against the 
Bible. 

And in putting out the Bible, whose conscience 
will you first begin to relieve ? You must begin with 
one, and thus you make the conscience of one the 
tyrant of all the rest. But the majority have a con- 
science as well as the minority. They pay their tax 
and are the main stay and support of the govern- 
ment. But this rule of the few who must have their 
way, would oppress and trample on the constitutional 
and conscientious rights of the many, and instead of 
free schools oft'er an education hedged in with bars 
and bolts to keep out the infiuence of Christianity ; 



■Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 199 

an education that excludes the Hght, that stifles the 
voice of conscience, and muffles up the drum-beat of 
history, and cannot endure so much as the mention 
of the name of Martin Luther. A conscience that 
happens to stand for the Bible, is branded as intol- 
erant, interfering with the rights of perfect liberty. 
This is not liberty, but licentiousness. Conscience 
longs for information and light, and stirs up our in- 
telligent powers to enlist all our energies in obtaining 
knowledge on both sides of every question, and espe- 
cially wants to know all that is to be known of its 
own being and destiny. To do this, the conscience 
must be free to investigate and inform itself. The 
Jew or deist dare not put a bar to the conscience of 
others, because their own prejudice seems fit to put 
a bar to their own. 

Conscience pure and simple never objects to in- 
formation and knowledge. Such who refuse infor- 
mation do it in spite of conscience, for the sake of 
carnal laziness or security, or when the ignorant pas- 
sions excite the stubborn will, and with it form an 
alliance against conscience, calling in perverted reason 
to assist in fabricating some soft excuse to pacify 
and drown the voice of conscience, which thunders 
against this great oppression and injustice. How can 
the conscience judge anything, without knowing some- 
thing about it? 

Now the introduction of the Bible into the pub- 
lic schools leaves every one free to believe or reject 
its system of belief. These teachings are not forced 
on any one. No one can say with propriety that his 



200 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools, 

or his children's conscience is in any way oppressed. 
On the contrary, it secures Hberty to the Jew, the 
Mohammedan or Roman Catholic idolater, and se- 
cures to them that information, without which it is 
impossible for their conscience to arrive at an im- 
partial knowledge or investigation of the things that 
concern the conscience itself. There is no greater 
intolerance conceivable, than this opposition to the 
Word of light and life. 

Religious liberty gives us a Bible free to all. Its 
enemies pay no more taxes for its support, than its 
friends pay to the support of the free religious privi- 
leges and beliefs of its enemies. If these enemies of 
the Bible can put into our public school a better book, 
we will hail that book with joy. But they are fools, 
who will destroy any useful institution, and are not 
able to put a better one in its place. 

Besides, the consciences that pant for the living 
streams of God's Word, constitute an overwhelming 
majority. This again settles the question in a re- 
public where the majorities rule. Xow are all those 
idolatrous sects to be promoted, and the great ma- 
jority despised? Is that education which has paved 
the way for modern civilization and freedom, to be 
fettered and emasculated, to meet the demands of any 
imperious sect of idolaters opposed to the Bible? 
This is the greatest intolerance against the majority 
and against the principles that gave life to our republic 
and its institutions. 

That the Bible is opposed to all these idolaters 
is evident, so are all the laws and free institutions of 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals^ Etc. 201 

this country founded upon its principles. And be- 
fore these parties become so bold as to eliminate its 
teachings and principles from all our laws and in- 
stitutions, let them first show up a better g-overnment 
for mankind under the influence of their own super- 
stitions and idolatry, else they stand self-condemned 
by their own assertions. 

The Bible is given to the whole world, and is the 
property of no one exclusively. It belongs to one 
as much as to another. Nor have the papistic idola- 
ters any right to claim that there exists any sectarian 
version of the Bible in popular use. The present 
English version was begun by Wickliffe in the Ro- 
mish Church. It was continued by Tyndall, Cover- 
dale, Matthew and others in the same church. It was 
completed, printed and published, and circulated by 
the authority of a Romish king, Henry the Eighth, 
with a license procured by Cranmer and the Vicar- 
General Cromwell, of the Romish Church, permit- 
ting, in Cranmer's own words, that it might be 'read 
of every person, without dangers of any act, procla- 
mation, or ordinance heretofore granted to the con- 
trary, until such time that we bishops shall set forth 
a better translation, which I think will not be till a 
day after doomsday.' 

This very translation was substantially taken as 
the basis of the translation under King Jarnes, so that 
Dr. Alexander Geddes, a Roman CathoHc, called it 
^of all versions the most excellent for accuracy, fidel- 
ity, and the strictest attention to the letter of the text.' 

Let the followers of anti-Christ remember that 



202 Foiuitains of Streams and Public Schools. 

±he light of Protestantism did not arise in England 
from the King James version, but from the Vulgate 
of Jerome. If the Reformation or the pope depended 
solely upon the differences of versions, their existence 
would soon be at an end. 

Sectarianism is the work of man, not of God. 
All Christians should speak the same thing. There 
should be no divisions among them. They should be 
perfectly joined together in the same mind and in 
the same judgment. And to this condition the Bible 
-and God's Spirit are alone able to bring us. There- 
fore, no free and enlightened conscience can object 
to the Bible in the public schools. To expel it, is 
to open up the floodgates of all crime and vice. 

The papists, who are at the head of this warfare 
against the Bible in our public schools, cannot base 
their claim upon the fraudulent assimiption that the 
Bible is a sectarian book. They don't want the Bible 
in the public schools, so that they can decry these 
schools as heathen and iniidel schools, and prevail 
upon their own children better to attend their anti- 
christian schools, and bring the others with them. 
For their own children are beginning to appreciate 
-and esteem the public schools better and higher than 
their own sectarian schools. 

To continue this Romish Index Expurgatorius 
many of our sciences now taught in our schools 
would be condemned as heresies, as in Gallileo's time, 
amtil there would be nothing left of religious liberty 
and civilization, and the monster of intolerance and 
-anarchy would take its place. 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 203 

Many of our state constitutions require that no 
one sect shall have or ever acquire preference in law 
over another. And the Romanists and their sympa- 
thizers quote this law against the use of the Bible 
in our schools as unconstitutional, a usurpation and 
an oppression. Because the constitution requires 
that all denominations shall have equal rights, there- 
fore no denomination shall have the right to the 
Bible, if any one objects against it. This is their 
logic of equality and freedom ! 

The violence to conscience can only come about 
when any are forced to believe and confess to any 
particular sectarian distinctive religious belief. It is 
not the reading, teaching and instruction in the pre- 
cepts of any particular religion, whatever, or of all 
religions, that constitutes in the slightest degree an 
interference with the free rights of conscience. But 
if the children were compelled to give their assent to 
it, and believe and confess it, this would be compul- 
sion, and against the very spirit of Christianity itself. 

It must be admitted by all intelligent men, that 
useful knowledge of every variety, is beneficial in any 
pursuit of life. Some branches of knowledge are ab- 
solutely necessary for certain occupations, but all are 
advantageous. Thus the knowledge of different re- 
ligions will be a great advantage, and will enable any 
one the better to understand his own. Without af- 
fording this knowledge there is an interference and 
oppression of conscience, or an attempt to force a 
particular religious worship upon the conscience, by 
keeping it in ignorance of other systems. 



20-4 Fountains of Streams and Pnhlic Schools, 

The enemies of the Bible assume, that if only 
one object to it, its use is wrong, and must be pro- 
hibited to all. The assumption is that a conscience 
ignorant of the Bible and against it, has as much 
validity and authority as a conscience guided and en- 
lightened by it. On the assumption of this theory 
it is a persecution of such persons, who are ignorant 
of the Bible's teachings and opposed to it. to place 
the Bible before them, or put them in a situation where 
they can not avoid its light. This reasoning, of 
course, abolishes the right to spread the Word of God 
at all. or to preach it anywhere. The plea is that 
you go against the rights of conscience and a perfect 
religious liberty, if you, in opposition to the dictates 
of any conscience, thrust the A\'ord of God upon the 
attention of any people. 

On this assumption, that a conscience oiUside 
of the Word of God and against it, is as authoritative 
and as much to be respected by the community as a 
conscience enlightened and guided bv it, then if the 
conscience of the majority bmd them to persecute, 
the minority ought to make no opposition, for such 
opposition would be intolerance, and an mterference 
with the rights of perfect religious liberty. So when 
the Romanists get the power, they can set up their 
engines of cruelty in this country, and you have noth- 
ing to say. for if you try to stop them it would be in- 
terference and bigotry, it would be the oppression of 
your fellow citizens, bv preventing them from enj ov- 
ine conscientious preferences, to persecute their re- 
lio-ious adversaries. Even if vou had the majoritv. 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 205 

you would have no right to lord it over the con- 
sciences of the minority in trying to prevent them 
from persecuting. You have no right to prevent them 
from burning every Bible in the land, or demolish- 
ing every Protestant church ; because, if they had the 
majority, they would for the same reason that one 
conscience is worthy of as much respect as another, 
have the power to force your conscience according 
to theirs. 

To settle the question of the Bible in the public 
schools by a bare force of majority they say, is a 
wrong principle, that conscience knozvs no majorities. 
The conscience pure and simple does not know mi- 
norities either. By this very argument they cannot 
exclude the Bible, except by the free consent of all 
concerned. On the other hand if you admit the equal- 
ity of a conscience for the Bible to one against it, 
how is it possible to decide the matter except by the 
majority? If conscience is to decide, whose con- 
science shall it be? The one opposed, or the one 
in favor of the Bible? The enlightened, or the igno- 
rant? The smaller or larger number of consciences? 
Taking conscience as a faculty or sense of moral 
judgment, irrespective and outside of a divine reve- 
lation, it is no worse for the majority to determine 
in matters of conscience than in any others, for a 
conscience unenlightened by the Word of God is 
guided and determined by majorities. Hence the 
greater amount of conscience should be preferred and 
respected. If you respect the conscience of the mi- 
nority or any particular sect, and make that the rule 



206 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

for the majority, you may be and are, in one and the 
same case, going contrary to the principle both of 
the majority and of conscience. A man has the na- 
tural right to say what branches shall be taught to 
his own children, but he has no right in nature or 
conscience to determine what branches, scientific or 
religious, shall be taught to the children of others^ 
much less by his conscience to determine the state, 
and not allow it to teach what it thinks useful for its 
own children. This is opposed to all progress, and 
pernicious to the very first natural rights of all con- 
science, to be informed as to the matter over which 
it has the right of judgment equal to any other. 

Then there are some who admit that the Word 
of God is the truth, and that truth is more rightful 
than error. Those do violence to fneir own con- 
science in opposing the Bible, and expelling it from 
the public school. Such opposition does not pro- 
ceed from conscience, but from passion, superstition, 
prejudice and willful ignorance. The truth is of no 
sect, it belongs to none exclusively, and cannot be 
justly complained of as an oppression upon any con- 
science. The right to spread and teach it is from the 
God of truth Himself, who created the conscience to 
receive it. 

Now the claims of a conscience instructed out 
of the Word of God is above any claim of ignorance 
to the contrary. The perverted conscience which 
commands the worship of idols cannot justly be 
treated with the same respect as a conscience which 
worships the only true God and eternal life. If you 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals^ Etc. 207 

claim that it does, you become inconsistent and are 
driven to the most dreadful conclusions, fatal to the 
very existence of Christian society and civilization. 
For the conscience of idol worshippers drives them 
to the commission of the greatest crimes, of the sac- 
rifice of the children even in the fire, or infanticide. 
But if you exclude the Bible from the public schools 
because the conscience of an unbeliever is as much 
to be respected as that of a believer, then you have 
no right to punish such a crime or legislate against it, 
for this would be a violation of perfect religious 
equality and liberty. Then the government would 
be bound to protect the scrupulous beliefs of those 
who destroy their own children, and could no longer 
punish it as a crime. This holds good also in re- 
gard to bigamy. If the bigamists were in the ma- 
jority, they would have a right to make a law in its 
favor. 

Suppose a handful of free-lovers or Mormons, 
or any other idolatrous superstition that militates 
against our Christian civilization, were to settle in 
any of our large cities, and claim the benefit of gov- 
ernmental protection, and that their scruples of con- 
science shall not be made the instruments of their 
oppression. They would also claim the privilege of 
our public schools, for which they have an equal 
right with all citizens as taxpayers. But they find 
in the books of the public schools reading lessons 
that condemn their whole system of religion and do- 
mestic policy, and prove it to be a wicked and gross 
superstition, criminal to the laws of our country, and 



208 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

contrary to God's Word. To respect their conscience 
on the same equahty with Christians would be uniting 
Christ and Belial, daylight and darkness. 

We affirm that there is such a thing as the truth, 
and this truth is in God's Word, and that neither 
majorities or minorities, law or conscience dare enter 
a plea against it, or put a ban upon its free circula- 
tion. And as the government has the right and duty 
to educate, its first right and duty is to provide the 
children with the Bible, because it is the basis and 
source of our republican and free government. The 
command is binding no less upon the state than upon 
all Christian members of the state, 'Suffer the little 
children to come unto me and forbid them not ' But 
you do not suffer them, you forbid them, if you ignore 
and exclude the religious element. You deprive them 
of their God-given right to know something of their 
heavenly estate. If you acknowledge the Bible to 
be the Word of God, you have no more right to ex- 
clude it from the public schools than any other di- 
vine blessing. You would have just as much right 
to exclude the pure air, or the light of the sun. Be- 
cause the pure air will exclude the foul, and the sun- 
light will drive away the darkness. So the ^^'o^d 
of God will put out all false consciences and super- 
stitious beliefs, therefore to respect them all alike, 
put out the pure air. the sunlight, the Bible ! 

What this common, all-surrounding vital air is 
to the health of the lungs, to the life and blood of the 
body, so is the air of God's truth to the health of 
the soul. Tn tbv liHit. shall we see li2:ht.* The 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 209 

Word of God is a powerful light, and extinguishes 
all other religious lights, as the sun extinguishes the 
will-o'-the-wisp, and the stars of the shining canopy. 
Stifle not the breath of millions of youthful immortal 
creatures, by crowding them into the polluted air 
ot dark dungeons, called school houses. But open 
the windows ! Throw them wide open and let the 
sweet refreshing air of heaven afiford the glad troops 
of children the balmy breath and joyful odors of the 
healthy breezes. Let the all-shining sun pour its 
cheerful beams upon them. And so let the Word of 
God, the sun of eternal truth, pour its light into the 
hearts of the children. For it is as necessary for 
our perception of moral truth as the sun is to enable 
■us to see the colors of the rainbow or of the flowers 
of the field. It is as necessary for the growth of 
true moral principle in the soul, as the light of the 
sun is for the growth of the plants, the fruits, the 
birds and the flowers. When either sun goes down 
it is night, and all destructive beasts of the earth come 
forth from their hiding places. Human powers and 
hierarchies have no right to hinder the spread of the 
everlasting Gospel of truth. They have no right in 
nature or otherwise to forbid me to give a morsel of 
bread to the hungry, dying wretch at my door. They 
cannot interfere with these my first natural rights and 
duties, which are inalienable. Any nation or church, 
that makes the enjoyment and distribution of the Bi- 
ble a crime, is out of the pale of international law 
and all human right. It is high time to say to this 
manufactory of conscientious scruples and crimes, 



210 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

this plea of equal respect for wrong as for the right i 
'Let this terrible inquisition stop !' Let no blasphe- 
mous defiance of God interdict His Word, and say to 
the creatures for whom it was given, ye shall not 
enjoy it! Let no vain blasphemous Canute lift up 
his puny sceptre to this glowing orb of heaven like 
Lucifer from hell, and say : *I speak to thee, O Sun t 
only to tell thee how I hate thy beams !' 

The public school is the free stamping ground for 
the sifting of all secular and religious, or any kind 
of human knowledge. Their erection by this gov- 
ernment is a declaration to the world that knowledge 
shall be free to our posterity. For this reason they 
are called free, public and common schools. Every 
science of whatever nature, that is known and recog- 
nized among men as beneficial to the welfare of soul 
or body, shall have free access to the grasping minds 
of American sons and daughters. And as the whole 
American government freely and publicly concedes, 
that the Bible is the foundation and key-stone of oirr 
country's liberties and progress, it is the disposition 
of the meanest traitor and blasphemer to raise his 
voice against it and say: 'O Bible! I speak to thee,, 
only to let thee know, how I hate thy beams !' 

True, a mere secular education is not in itself 
necessarily an infidel education ; but as soon as you 
connect with it the command forbidding all religious 
knowledge and the Bible to be taught there, you 
shall not refer to God or a judgment to come, you 
shall not read or teach the Scriptures along with 
other studies, this ban of excommunication is neces- 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 211 

sarily the ban of infidelity. Such a jealous exclusion 
and interdiction teaches the children indirectly if not 
directly, an instinctive repulsion in all their exercises, 
habits, discipline, against the Bible, rehgious light 
and liberty. And it will be felt eventually as a prodi- 
gious and pernicious power. It is a standing and 
perpetual insinuation against the Church of Christ 
and the Word of God. Such are the efforts of infi- 
delity to weaken the hold of the Bible on the public 
mind, whose masses will thus be poorly prepared 
to withstand the cunning and insidious attack. 'He 
that is not with me is against me.' This is proof 
enough, that an education without Christ, is an edu- 
cation opposed to Him. 

What the results of such an education without the 
Bible or any of its contents will be, experience proves 
from the annual reports of any of our benevolent so- 
cieties, designed for the good of the little children of 
the wicked, and of the poor. These reports from our 
large cities give the condition of multitudes of children 
who are not one whit benefited, but are made ten 
times worse than they were before, with the best mere 
secular education with the ban of interdiction upon 
all religious teaching and training. This is an epi- 
tome of common schools without religion. 

Children who are taught nothing of God at home 
or at school, nothing of divine truth, nothing of the 
Savior of the world, must be left with all their edu- 
cation in the same moral poverty and wretchedness 
where they were before, in nothing but vagrancy, low 
cunning and vice, sharpened by a wit trained and 



212 Fo]intains of Streams and Public Schools. 

made more devilish by an education without a con- 
-science and without God. What a delusion ! to think 
of benefiting such children whose very poverty has 
miade them vicious, by putting them into a school from 
which the Bible and its teachings are zealously ex- 
cluded. 

Self government is the foundation of power in the 
individual as well as in the state. And self-govern- 
ment in the individual as well as in the masses, is 
founded on a conscience enlightened with a religious 
faith. If this religious inspiration which ever sighs 
and struggles for freedom and self-control, be lost in 
the individual citizen and in the masses, our expir- 
ing groan will surpass the anguish of any nation that 
ever lived. Republican freedom is impossible, with- 
out the habit of self-government. But where does the 
individual or the masses get this self-control, this 
divinely enlightened conscience, except from the Word 
of God? And where else shall this sense and knowl- 
edge of self-control be taught, which is of such vital 
importance to our country's liberty, and by which its 
liberties and independence were won by our ancest- 
ors, unless in the common schools? For statistics 
show that only one-sixth of the families of this country 
ever attend church or hear the Gospel preached. What 
shall become of the five-sixths ? Shall the government 
which depends upon Providence for its existence and 
prosperity, leave them entirely without divine guid- 
ance, who are to constitute the great majority of 
citizens, who in the near future are to control all our 
countrv's institutions? Can we now, since we have 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 213 

become a nation that commands the respect of the 
world, afford to throw down the ladder on which we 
have ascended to such powerful and inestimable bless- 
ings, and leave it to the blind and bigoted to set it up 
for our posterity? Can we safely rely upon an un- 
instructed generation, who have lost the power of 
self-government, to preserve our dear-bought liberties, 
or to appreciate their value? Such neglect means 
national and inevitable extinction. You extinguish 
the light which has brought our nation into existence, 
and the only light able to guide and preserve its pros- 
perity. We demand the right of our forefathers, the 
custom and law from the beginning of this govern- 
ment, the right of God and duty, against the tyrannical 
defiance and destruction of all our institutions from 
their beginning, to have the free use of the Bible in our 
public and free schools. Thus our public schools will 
remain as our fathers by law have made them, the 
bulwark of our nation's glory. 

You cannot teach moral philosophy or moral sci- 
ence without Christianity, without teaching a distinct 
religion. You cannot teach the pupil what the con- 
science is, what its supremacy over the habits and 
effects of moral or immoral actions, how the moral 
constitution of man is imperfect, and how its defects 
may be remedied, without Christianty. No other re- 
ligion will do it. To take this right and duty from the 
state and vest it in the priests of idolatry, would simply 
create a priest-ridden country, as experience every- 
where demonstrates. To exclude the Bible on the 
plea that it will force all the children into denomina- 



214 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools, 

tional or sectarian schools, what will become of five- 
sixths of the children who will not attend? The ma- 
jority will be kept in darkness, and w4th the rninority 
the worst of sectarianism will prevail. 

Immediately after the adoption of the constitu- 
tion of the state of Xew York, when its common 
school system was established, Geo. Clinton referred 
to it in his message to the Legislature, and declared 
that 'piety and virtue are generally the offspring of an 
enlightened understanding.' In 1840 the Romanists 
were the first who opposed the Bible in the public 
schools. A controversy was then carried on for years 
in the public papers. The object for which the priests 
fought, was to get possession of the money appropri- 
ated by the state for the support of the public schools. 
Bishop Huges declared : 'We come here denied of our 
rights.' But the answer he received was such, that he 
was unable to reply. It was told him that he had no 
rights, because he was a priest who held his commis- 
sion and place by the will of a foreign hierarch. From 
the very nature of things, such a man cannot become 
an American. For this government was the result and 
was built up in opposition to that very hierarchy. He 
mav swear allegiance and kiss the Bible and the cross 
ever so often — he is still a foreigner. He may stay 
here and be protected by our laws, but he has no rights 
as such for intermeddling with our affairs. 

The amount which the Papists pay toward our 
school fund is exceedingly small. Besides, all their con- 
tributions to the state in every way are more than over- 
balanced by donations they receive from various public 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 215 

institutions. They are all foreigners holding a re- 
ligion subordinate to a foreign head, against which our 
ancestors entered their solemn protest by fleeing to 
these shores and building up a state with religious 
freedom — a protest which we their sons mean to 
sustain while we live, and hand down to our posterity 
as long as the country endures. The Papists them- 
selves confess that they came here on a mission clam- 
oring for their rights, and are dissatisfied with our 
institutions. What rights do they claim ? Shall it be 
the rights of American Protestants in a Roman Cath- 
olic country? They claim the right here to interfere 
with the management of our public schools. What 
right did they have to do this in their own country 
where they were born, where their religion adjusted 
these rights and dealt them out? Before we entrust 
Papists with our public schools, we want to see the 
result of their labors in the common schools of coun- 
tries dominated by Popery. Will they show us a 
spot in any such country where the earliest care of 
Popery was to establish common schools for children 
of all classes to learn to read, write and cipher? There 
is no such a place in the dominions of the Pope. 
Popery is opposed to common schools and popular 
education in every form. Common schools are the 
idea and offspring of Protestantism. The glory of 
American civilization is a system of universal educa- 
tion ; the glory of Popedom is universal ignorance. 
The height of Roman Catholic ascendency was the 
throne of Antichrist towering up in the dark ages, 
the midnight of our world's history. We know very 



216 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

well and so do they, that where the elements of useful 
knowledge of all sorts are taught to all our children, 
with each a Bible in his hand, with the freedom of 
reading and thinking independently, that there the 
American institutions are safe, and that where they 
prevail, there Popery will crumble into dust. 

If we investigate the doctrine and practices of 
these priests and bishops, and whole Popish hierarchy, 
we will be filled with a deeper and wider feeling ol 
disapprobation than ever before. We find in their sys- 
tem a daring impiety toward God, a confidence and 
trust in the credulity of men. This makes us feel 
more thankful to the great Reformers who dared to 
face this system in its strength, and to God, that He 
gave their efforts success, and the claims of Popery 
were broken forever, and a spirit of freedom let loose 
which has blessed our land with civil and religious 
liberty, and is destined to bless all nations in time to 
come. The whole system of the Papal hierarchy is 
anti-American. Its powers and officers are depend- 
ent on a foreign prince, and unite in him as the head 
and chief. By authority received from him a bishop 
here shuts up an American church, and maintains a 
priest publicly charged by numerous affidavits with 
being often intoxicated, in defiance of the will of his 
own people. This is all contrary to the very first 
principle of American rights and privileges. For 
Americans have the right to control their own affairs. 

It matters not with what notions of despotism 
they came here from the old world ; it matters not 
how much slaverv and meanness had been inbred into 



Rights of Conscience as to Morals, Etc. 217' 

the subject ; if he is not at once disenthralled as soon 
as he treads on our shores, and our atmosphere of 
liberty does not revive the vitality of manliness in him,, 
his children will at least become Americans. The 
Romanists may have schools of their own, but as Ro- 
manists they have no right to interfere in our common 
schools. They belong to the people in their capacity 
as citizens, and not as members of any church, much 
less of a foreign hierarchy. Only such can be true- 
Americans, who conform to the principle that the Bible 
is the corner stone of our whole fabric, and it must be 
free to read by our children in schools and every- 
where else. Let the fountains of the mighty power 
of truth flow freely, and every one taste and judge for 
himself, and whatever system is overthrown by its 
energies, ought to perish. Let truth prevail. It alone 
can uphold useful institutions in this world, and pre-^ 
pare us for the world of realities beyond the grave." 



THE PERSECUTION OF A LITTLE ORPHAN IN 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

^ ^ ^ 

THE affairs of human society in this world are sub- 
ject to change. So it was also at the Fountains 
of Streams. Death breaks up our homes, and com- 
pels us to form new relations in the homes of others. 
The little log cabin of ]\Iorven stood tenantless on the 
hill side. Its doors were left ajar, and were warped 
and ready to fall from their wooden hinges. The 
windows were broken through, and the wild ivy run 
riot over the walls and the roof. The paths around 
it were overgrown with weeds and underbrush, and 
the playhouse the little children had built, was scat- 
tered by the winds and the storm. Though the little 
rills trickled down the hill and the birds caught up 
the music as before, and sent it through the forests 
and hilltops, in nature's triumphant harmony ; no one 
as yet had the courage to set up an abode in that 
neighborhood, haunted as it was with the terrible 
thoughts of murder and bloodshed, and the frightened 
shriek and dying groans of slaughtered victims. The 
cabin still stood there as a monument of curiosity for 
sympathizing friends, who often visited its shades of 
gloom and sorrow, to pay their tribute of pity to the 
once happy home of the servants of toil. \Mld nature 
was gradually spreading over the scene the green 
curtains of hope, and tenderly covering up the last 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 219 

remnants of past joys and sorrows, into the graves of 
buried time. 

Here it was that little Lillian remained with the 
dead all that fearful night. She was not alone, for the 
doctor kept watch in that tenement of death and sorrow. 
He immediately sent his companion hurriedly for as- 
sistance, and in a few hours the officers of the law and 
many who heard the report, were on the spot, to help 
rescue the living and bury the dead. Lillian held so 
firmly to her kind friend, that the doctor was obliged 
to take her with him, and gave her a home under his 
roof. They found the money in the father's pocket, and 
the doctor was appointed her guardion. The simple 
furniture of the cabin, by her request, was removed, 
and set up in a room on the doctor's premises at the 
Fountains of Streams, to quiet the excited nerves and 
mind of Lillian. Here she was often seen alone, weep- 
ing and brooding over the mementos of her lost play- 
mates and companions, and was very sad. She often 
looked at the cradle where she sang and rocked, but 
its nestling, the little sunbeam was gone. There was 
her brother's little sled, but his joyful voice was not 
heard, as he would bound out over the snow for a ride 
down his favorite hill The stove with its pots and 
kettles, the cupboard and dishes, the scene of her 
mother's occupations ; her father's tools and chest ; 
were now treasured as precious mementos that bound 
her memory to her departed kindred, and other days. 
The doctor thought it would be cruel to sell, or dis- 
pose of them in any other way. 

She lived in the doctor's family and slept with 



2'20 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

his children. She often took her new playmates into 
the room to show them her treasures, and tell them 
her tale of woe, and answered the questions prompted 
by their childlike curiosity. Finally, it was thought 
best gradually to remove some of the articles that 
were useful, in order to direct her mind more to her 
books and studies, for her teacher observed that -she 
did not m.ake the desired progress in her lessons, 
abandoned as she was to such gloomy and sad memo- 
ries. She had the same privileges and advantages 
of the doctor's own children, and enjoyed -his happy 
home these three years. She was well clothed and 
cared for ; she was sent to the parochial and Sunday 
school at Fountains of Streams, and grew more and 
more in the favor of her teacher and all her compan- 
ions, awakened through pity and strengthened and 
cherished by her kind and loving disposition: and 
thus she became the favorite little orphan in Foun- 
tains of Streams. 

Her nearest relatives living, were dwelling in 
Cincinnati. It was her grand uncle, an uncle to her 
mother. He had interested himself in her welfare^ 
and was concerned about her forlorn condition, and 
had worked up the affections of kindred relationship 
in himself to such an extent, that he easily made an 
impression on Lillian. At first his visits to Rolling 
Meads were short and far between. As he became 
more fully acquainted with her financial resources, 
his visits became more frequent and lengthy, and he 
employed every means to make them pleasant and 
acceptable to her and her friends. He would bring 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 221 

her many things in which children of her age de- 
Hghted, presents that cost httle, but very appropriate 
as tokens of friendship. Thus he gained her affec- 
tions and confidence, and strengthened the plans he 
entertained of becoming her guardian, and taking 
her home to live with him in the large city. 

Just at this time a sad occurrence in Rolling 
Meads urged him to press his suit for all it was worth. 
Little LilHan's refuge in death's dark hour, her friend 
and protector, was no more. The doctor's energies 
were exhausted, and he was laid to sleep with his 
..fathers in the green bluff at the Fountains of Streams. 
There was a large concourse at his funeral, to pay 
their tribute of love to a highly esteemed and worthy 
member of society, whose life was devoted to the 
welfare of all, a pillar on whom, they could depend, 
the stay and comfort of the widow and orphan, the 
defense of schools of Christian morality, and a bul- 
wark of righteousness. The good whom we so much 
need in this world go first, and those whom we could 
so easily spare, whose loss would be our gain, are 
permitted to stay and torment us. We cannot un- 
derstand these ways of Providence. No doubt they 
.are for the best, and all things shall work together 
for good to them that love Him. The evil cannot 
always prevail, and God directs it to work out His 
designs. 

Mourning spread black garments over the in- 
habitants of Rolling Meads, and trailed their gloomy 
tresses far and wide through all the country round 
about. Oh ! it was sad, to suffer so great a loss ! 



222 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools, 

And sad it was most of all for Lillian. She mourned 
him as a father and only friend and protector. She 
had as yet never sincerely entertained the thought of 
encouraging her uncle, to take her from her kind 
protector at Fountains of Streams to live with him 
in Cincinnati. But now she felt out of place, al- 
though she dearly loved all the members of his family, 
and when she finally summoned up courage enough 
to make her troubles known, they all stood up in 
arms against the idea of her leaving. Then the mat- 
ter was thoroughly discussed, and arguments were 
presented for her consideration that made her hesi- 
tate, and finally she gave up the thought entirely. 
But it lasted only for a time, and her former thoughts 
would come back to torment her, and overthrow her 
resolution. ]\Iore and more these thoughts caused 
her to feel as though she was a burden on their hands. 
At all events, she thought and was told, that a new 
guardian had to be appointed. She was reminded 
of the fact that her uncle was comparatively a stranger 
to her. and for what she knew, all he wanted was 
her money. If he were once in full possession of her 
money, his pretended kindness and pity for her for- 
lorn condition might disappear altogether, and in- 
stead of the sympathetic angel he now appeared, he 
might turn out a monster of cruelty : that even if 
he remained faithful to her welfare and interests, 
she would gain nothing by the change, for where 
she now was, she already had many tried friends and 
loving acquaintances, who were doing all they could 
to make her happy. They reminded her of the good 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 223^ 

old proverb, that a bird in the hand is worth two in 
the bush, and leave ''good enough" alone. 

The letters from her uncle were now frequent, 
very frequent, long, loving and urgent, in which he 
retorted the arguments back upon her friends they 
used against him ; telling her that only real relatives 
could be trusted in the end, and that all their kind- 
ness to her was based on her money and not on her 
person; that he concerned himself as much for her 
before he ever knew she was worth anything. It 
seemed cruelty and hardheartedness not to listen and 
respect such pleadings as these. Moreover, she 
thought she might thus ignorantly be doing herself 
great injustice, for in her lone condition she needed 
all the friends she could secure, for she could not tell 
how things might change, and then she would need 
them sorely enough. She did not want to lose her 
uncle's friendship by rejecting his proposal entirely^ 
nor did she wish to hurt the feelings of her friends. 
So she hesitated, and again submitted all her anxious 
thoughts to the consideration of her friends, and so- 
licited their advice on the proposition, if it would not 
be well for her to visit her grand uncle, in order to 
learn if that would make an appropriate home for 
her. Her proposition was, with many misgivings, 
finally agreed to, and arrangements were immediately 
set on foot for the intended visit. It was agreed that 
the visit should last three days, and that Miss Grail, 
Lillian's teacher in her Sunday school class, was to 
accompany her. 

Miss Morven wrote her uncle and appointed the 



224: Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

time when he should look for them at the depot. 
It was not only a surprise, but cheering news to her 
uncle and his family, to know that their little cousin 
was coming to visit them, with the intention, if ar- 
rangements could be made, to stay and make her 
home permanently with them. At the appointed 
-time two ladies with a whole bevy of little friends 
-grouped around them, were seen making their way 
■down the pavement of Rolling ]Meads to the railroad 
depot, to take the train for the Queen City of the 
AVest. As the train departed, adieus and farewells 
fairly rent the joyous air, wishing a prosperous jour- 
ney, a happy visit and a safe return ! But some felt 
sad. The object of the journey awoke sad fore- 
bodings, and aroused much feeling in the conversa- 
tion of her friends on their way back from the depot. 
They doubted the career that now seemed chalked out 
for the little orphan. 

The journey on the cars was something new to 
Lillian, and she enjoyed it very much. Her uncle 
was waiting at the depot, and took them home in 
his carriage, where everything was all trim and in 
readiness to receive them with all possible kindness, 
politeness and attention. Her uncle's family con- 
sisted of two sons who were of age. and three daugh- 
ters, all older than Lillian. Her aunt was a round- 
faced, fleshy old lady, but seemed very short and 
snappy in her conversation. However, they all made 
a good impression by their attention and entertain- 
ment on their guests. They managed to keep up 
this impression as far as ^liss ^lorven was concerned, 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 225 

but Miss Grail's penetrating glance brought her at 
once to the conclusion, that they were making a great 
and strained effort to show off to the best advantage. 
They took them out riding to see the city. They took 
them free to one entertainment after the other, and 
LilHan was very much pleased and taken up with 
her visit. They took nice boat rides on the river, 
they were at the zoological garden, at the music hall, 
and all important sights and exhibitions usually shown 
to visitors, and the three days were so short, she was 
sorry when the time came to return home. Return- 
ing on the cars. Miss Grail began to instruct her ward 
in the ways and society of city people, and before 
they reached Rolling Meads, Lillian was fully per- 
suaded to stay where she was. Miss Grail had kept 
her eyes and ears open. To all the neighbors and 
friends of the family to whom she was introduced, 
she was ready to chat and open up a conversation 
on any and every subject, but did not fail to sound 
them on the moral, religious and financial condition 
of the family where they were visiting. She took 
down notes on the sly, which became food for after- 
thought. She saw that their church connections were 
naught, that they were not Christians by profession, 
and cared only for themselves, and sought their own 
interests, and wanted to stand high in society ; she 
saw that Lillian's uncle was deeply involved, that he 
could get no credit, and was threatened with bank- 
ruptcy. No wonder, thought she, that he was so 
anxious to obtain the six thousand dollars of Lillian. 
When she received this information, of whose truth 



226 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

she was convinced by her own personal obser\'ation, 
she was heartily glad to escape this snare ; and with 
glad hearts soon again set their feet down solid as 
they alighted from the train at Rolling Pleads, where 
their cheerful friends were gathered to welcome them 
home. How joyous and cheerful they all became, 
soon as they learnt that Lillian had fully resolved to 
stay in Rolling ]\Ieads, and not to go and live with 
her uncle. Yet she did not regret her visit, and 
thought it was a grand hit, for she saw and learnt 
many things, and had many long stories to tell her 
little companions, for she was a persistent talker, and 
loved to crack her side-splitting jokes, and burst out 
in joyous laughter with any of them. 

All this while her uncle had been very busy 
brewing a stew of different ingredients, that did not 
taste so sweet. He had employed an agent in Rolling 
]\Ieads to see to his interests, who made the authori- 
ties there believe that Lillian ^lorven had already 
gone by her own free choice to live with her uncle, 
and showed them in testimony of this fact, garbled 
letters of the little girl, expressing it as her desire 
to have her uncle appointed her guardian. So he got 
the appointment from the court, and the money was 
placed at his disposal, on the very day Lillian re- 
turned so confidently and io}*fully into the presence 
of her old friends at Rolling Pleads, ^^llen this 
came to their ears, their indignation was fairlv aroused^ 
and measures were at once taken to overthrow the 
proceedings of the court. The judge was not a little 
disturbed. He immediatelv sent the sheriff to arrest 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 227 

the uncle for obtaining money on false pretenses, and 
get the money in his possession, for he saw he had 
made a great blunder. On investigation, however, 
it was found that the largest portion of the money 
was^lready paid out to stop proceedings against him, 
so as not to cripple his business, and to prevent his 
ruin. The judge saw, that with this help, it was 
possible for the man to come out of his financial de- 
pression all right. So he and another friend of his 
went security for the amount, and thus satisfied the 
demands of the little girl's friends. It was his in- 
terest now to watch the progress of her uncle's busi- 
ness, and satisfy himself and his partner, that all 
would come out as they hoped it should. 

Nothing was left now for Lillian Morven but 
to put herself under the disposal of her legally ap- 
pointed guardian. She asked permission to enjoy 
the school privileges of her old home. All pleading 
was of no avail ; her uncle was unyielding, and began 
to reveal his blunted and self-interested disposition. 
Lillian now thought of the warning of her friends, and 
of their many deeds of kindness and pity all these 
years. She experienced how even little deeds of love 
do grow — and grow — and grow stronger every day, 
so that memory, heart and soul cannot get rid of them. 
They come to stay. And heavier — heavier became 
her little troubled heart as the day approached, when 
her uncle was coming to take her and her belongings, 
to the Queen City. And there was weeping and 
great sorrow among all her acquaintances and friends, 



228 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

on the day when their favorite was torn from them, 
not to enjoy her happy days any more. 

Again they accompanied her with downcast spirits 
on her departure, as her grand uncle in sullen mood 
fairly dragged her along. They besought him with 
tears to treat the little orphan kindly, and reminded 
him of her forlorn condition, and the great suffer- 
ings she already endured. He promised that all 
would be well, that the child would have better op- 
portunities for education in a large city than she had 
before, and her welfare would not be neglected. Al- 
most heartbroken were the last good-byes of her 
friends. No joyous farewells, as on her former de- 
parture, came to her cheerless spirit now. All seemed 
darkness before her, and she looked into the future 
with fear and dread. She seemed to herself like a 
ship that had lost its moorings, but rallied on her 
journey with the resolution to make the best of her 
situation. She knew on whom she must now depend, 
and did all she could to gain his favor. Her conduct 
w^as that of filial obedience, love and kindness to all 
her new associates, and adapted herself with wonder- 
ful facility to her new surroundings, and grew in 
the confidence and love of her new school companions. 

She went to school with her youngest cousin. The 
rest of her cousins had passed through the schools, 
without the Bible, and learned to despise it, and 
claimed an education which would enable them to 
pursue easy work and big pay, and live in the enjoy- 
ments of the gay and highflown society of the young 
people of the city. The ladies were able to clerk or 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 229 

keep books, to teach school or act as stenographers ; 
but these avocations were too servile and humble for 
their stylish tastes, and so they spent most of their time 
in music and entertainments. The young men as- 
sisted their father in his business with reluctance, and 
took every opportunity to break away from confine- 
ment to duty, to spend their earnings in rambling 
about town with boisterous and loose companions. 

The little orphan carried her mother's little Bible 
with her, and always read in it at evenings after she got 
through studying her lessons, and never forgot her 
prayers before she closed her eyes in sleep. At first 
the household seemed to humor the devotions of the 
child, but as time went on her cousins began to twit 
and tease her about her little book and her religion. 
They called her a religious fanatic, and that if she con- 
tinued in that way, they would soon have to send her 
to the cloister to become a nun. These were bitter 
flings against her tender feelings, and for a long time 
she endured them quietly, but still she knew not what 
to make of it. If she took steps to improve her con- 
dition, she feared she might make it worse, and so 
concluded to make the best she could of it as it was. 

The scornful lip and sneer of her youngest cousin 
caused her much pain, mingled with pity. This treat- 
ment forced her to confine her devotions to her own 
private and secret hours, where she would pour out 
her little beating heart in sadness and tears to Him 
who is the Father of the orphan, and the refuge of the 
lowly in their distress, and thus strengthened her mind 
to bear the outrages of cruelty and cowardly perse- 



280 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

cution. ' Her treatment became more cruel, and her 
cross more heavy, for the members of her uncle's 
family discovered that she privately kept on in her 
religious devotions, and began to scold and rebuke 
her for her stubbornness, in not conforming with the 
routine and customs of their daily life. Her religion 
made her hateful to them ; but even then she tried to 
please them, save that she would not in conscience 
comply with the demand to burn her mother's little 
book, and quit her foolish tears and prayers. They 
did all they could to conquer her, and dampen her 
spirit. 

And thus she passed her youthful years. She was 
forced to the meanest work, to the lowest household 
drudgery, altogether unsuitable for a child of her age. 
They did what they could to stunt the growth of her 
mind and body, and convert her into a kitchen drudge 
for life. Thus her cousins would be spared the soiling 
of their white hands and fine clothes. They would 
pick the bird bare and adorn themselves with its 
feathers. When she came from school, she had to lay 
off her garments and put on ragged clothes, while her 
cousins flirted in jewels and silks, and led a gay and 
indifferent life. 

In her youngest cousin, only a few years her 
senior, she thought she had the right to look for kind- 
ness and sympathy, because Lillian befriended her 
every day and helped her in her studies, as she was 
always dragging along far behind Lillian. It seemed 
she had no taste for books. And yet she envied Lil- 
lian, and hated her for superior powers of mind and 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 231 

virtue to please and gain the esteem of her associ- 
ates. And as her briUiancy of intellect and purity of 
heart outshone her cousins at every step of her pro- 
gress, they united to keep her down by cruelty. In 
their ignorance and ill naure they turned up their noses 
and made hateful faces at her, they teased, annoyed 
and persecuted her like hateful fiends. She had to do 
the chores, carry wood, coal and water, and for all her 
pains she was only slandered and disgraced with hor- 
rible names. When she carried the pail full of coal 
to the house, they would run and trip her, and thus 
make her fall and soil her garments. They pulled her 
hair and ears, they cuffed her and beat her with sticks. 
She passed through a world of abuse, like a true 
cross-bearer, led by the good Spirit, a pilgrim sojourn- 
ing in the city of vanity, built upon the marsh of free 
indulgence in every evil passion ; that educated its 
people that they might become powerful and lucrative 
merchants to barter in the trade of worldly lust. The 
object of the family where Lillian lived, was no doubt 
to get possession of her inheritance. It was manifest, 
that they tried to get rid of her, either by neglect and 
ill providing for her health, or preparing some means 
for her degradation, and forcing her to take refuge in 
the filthy stews of the city. In winter, they did not 
allow her sufficient clothing, and her bed was cold and 
shabby, for they made her sleep alone in an old attic 
for a long time. As this did not make inroads upon 
her health fast enough, they moved her sleeping 
apartments into a shed, which had been temporarily 
erected as a summer kitchen, where the wind, the rain 



282 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

and the snow had free access through every crevice. 
This, together with the bruises, kicks and cuffs she 
daily received, soon caused her stout Uttle heart to de- 
spond. She began to cough, which grew worse upon 
her daily, in spite of all the care she took to prevent or 
cure it. At length she fell very sick with pneumonia, 
and was burning with fever ; but she was roughly 
tumbled out of bed and forced to go about her work 
in this condition, chastised with hateful names and 
bodily violence. Her limbs became almost too weak 
to carry her, and they hooted at her when she wanted 
to rest and claimed to be sick and wished for the doc- 
tor. She became alarmed about her condition, and was 
convinced that those people were not correcting her for 
any naughtiness of her own, but were really trying to 
put her out of the way altogether, and would rather 
she were dead than alive. So one evening, after her 
day's task was done and all had retired to rest in their 
soft and warm beds, she slowly dragged herself out 
from between her cold and ragged straw mattresses, 
and crept into the street for the charity of a cold 
world to pick her up. She dragged herself along for 
three squares, when she suddenly became too weak 
and exhausted to proceed any further. She crawled 
to the nearest door. It happened to be the dwelling 
of a poor, but honest and industrious family. She 
knocked and cried for help ; she was taken in shiver- 
ing with cold, and in an almost helpless condition. 
These poor people set to work to do for her what they 
could, but soon saw that all their efforts were unavail- 
ing to break the raging fever, and that a physician was 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 2S^ 

necessary. She was treated so kindly and skillfully, 
that in a few days she began to mend, and at the end 
of twO' weeks she was up and around. But what was 
she to do with herself now ? This was a serious ques- 
tion for her to solve, and made her sad and thoughtful. 
To go back, she feared greater violence and abuse than 
ever, and to stay where she was, seemed to her an un- 
grateful imposition. Should she conceal her where- 
abouts from her violent persecutors, and seek a home 
where she would be welcome? This last suggestion 
seemed to her the better course. So she inquired of 
the good lady, whether she knew a good home for a 
little girl like her? *'Now, my dear," said the lady,, 
"you better go back where you was, they will look 
and be anxious about you. It is better for you to 
endure their abuse, than to be thrown upon the world 
this way ; you may soon run across harder times than 
you had before you run away. "Oh good lady," said 
Lillian, 'T have endured everything, I will have to die 
if I go back ihere, they will murder me. They don't 
want me to come back. They want me dead or lost, 
so they can get my money." When she told the good 
lady how she had been treated, and showed the bruises 
over her little body, she began to weep. "No, no, my 
child, don't cry. I'll see that you will get a good 
home. You can stay here until I find a better place," 
said she. Lillian thanked her for her kindness, bur 
did not feel safe in that neighborhood, so close to her 
old enemies. The next day she wandered out near the 
suburbs of the city into another district, for she did not 
feel safe to go to her old school where she was known. 



:234 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

Here she found a respectable family that had been 
looking for a girl just like her, and it was very fort- 
unate for Lillian to meet such good luck. Here she 
again began to feel happy, and brought cheer and 
joyfulness to her new acquaintances. She kept her 
sad story to herself as much as possible, until she had 
lived at this place for two years. She was now in her 
fourteenth year. And as one thing after another 
leaked out about her eventful life, she now became 
bold enough to sit down one day among them and 
give them correct statements about it all. so they were 
Jio longer left in doubt as to her extraction. Although 
they had previously doubted, yet concluded in spite of 
their doubts, that such a noble disposition and fine 
intelligent character, could not have its origin in a 
low and worthless soil. And now they were fully con- 
vinced, after she told them her complete history, that 
they were harboring an angel in disguise. This so 
excited these good people, to learn that their little 
■adopted girl was the daughter of respectable parents, 
and an heiress to a great fortune. The good man of 
the house immediately went to visit the supposed 
.^rand uncle of the child, who expressed great sur- 
prise at her whereabouts. He evidently thought she 
'^vas among the coils of the city stews, and had per- 
ished there. He said that "the good for nothing thing 
had run away, and that they did not care what had 
become of her." This talk only proved Lillian's state- 
ments, and made the good man's blood boil to hear it. 
Por he had written according to Lillian's directions, to 
Judge Baker, and received confirmation of her story, 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 235 

stating that if the girl was not treated respectfully, he 
would have to appoint another guardian and collect 
her estate from her grand uncle, authorizing the good 
man to intercede in her behalf. When the grand 
uncle saw the familiar writing on the envelope and 
the letter, and heard it read, the scales fell from his 
eyes ; he blushed for shame, and began to apologize 
for his unkind remarks. He promised to be kind to 
her, if she would only come back again, and not cause 
them any trouble. "V^ery well," said the good man, 
"'she is at liberty to go back if she wishes, but I am 
determined that you shall not treat her as you did. 
I shall keep an open eye on her, and she must be well 
treated and kindly cared for." They all promised 
under a thousand oaths, they would all do their besi 
to make good their former ill treatment, that she 
should come back again, she would have nothing to 
fear. 

Now as Lillian was prepared to enter the high 
school, and desired to advance in her music lessons, 
and as the musical institute and high school was nearer 
her uncle's residence than' where she lived, and as she 
gained friends to see to her welfare, she consented to 
return to her former persecutors. However, they 
soon began as before, first to twit her about her re- 
ligion ; but she was now more able to take her own 
part. As the years had passed she grew stronger, 
her judgment and will more self reliant, and she 
claimed that her religion was a private matter of her 
own, in which no one had any right to interfere, and 
if they did not cease their cruelty, it was her determin- 



236 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

ation soon to depart, and go back to her former home, 
where she was treated with kindness and good man- 
ners. This threat shocked the whole family, and their 
pride could not endure such a rebuke. They beamed 
down upon her with sarcastic smiles. Yet they felt 
their close quarters, and feared she might choose 
another guardian, as she was old enough, and without 
her means, they could not keep above water. So they 
considered many plans how to secure themselves in 
her inheritance, which was already invested to a great 
extent in her uncle's establishment. 

She went to school, but carried her mother's little 
book with her, for she had not only reasons to fear 
the loss of it, but could thus have an opportunity 
now and then to glance over its sacred and well-worn 
pages until she committed the greater part to mem- 
ory. Her fellow students detected her reading in it, 
and were curious to know something about the love- 
story Lillian had, and its author. For novel reading 
was extensively carried on among the scholars. But 
when they found out what book it was, they laughed 
out loud, which attracted the attention of the teacher, 
who now inquired into the cause of the disturbance. 
The teacher with a smile on her face told them to 
keep quiet, and scornfully ordered ]^Iiss Alorven to 
put away the book and attend to her lessons. During 
recess. her teacher took her to task privately, and told 
her, that the "rules of the school did not allow such 
a book in the school room, and that she should leave 
it at home, lay it away and forget all about it, because 
it only disturbed her from paying all her attention to 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 237 

her studies. That her first and only duty at school 
was, to learn her lessons, and try and make something 
out of herself, and become a lady. That book only 
tends to nourish a sour and sorrowful disposition, and 
your folks at home tell me they are very much dis- 
satisfied in you reading that book. If you only will 
listen to older people, you can make something of 
yourself, for you are apt to learn if you will, and can 
easily master your studies. Read that motto there on 
the wall: 'Man is the architect of his own fortune.' 
You must begin to build now, if you want a home 
of your own, and live in peace and happiness in the 
future. You must learn that motto, and believe it, 
and resolve to be independent, and a lady. All great 
men and women in the world once learned to read 
their ABC. And I may now be teaching in this 
school some future president of the United States, or 
some great general or senator, or ladies who will 
sometime live in the White House at Washington, or 
occupy some other position or profession in life. If 
you do not try your best now, you wiU be nothing 
but a low servant girl, and must do the mean and dirty 
work you do now at home. You should feel above 
such a condition like that and make something of your- 
self. You ought not to be satisfied with a low place, 
but look out for a high one." Thus she often en- 
couraged her pupils publicly, and told them that "all 
that was necessary to become great men and women, 
was to try for it," and would quote the stanza : 



238 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

"Lives of great men all remind us, 
We can make our lives sublime, 

And departing, leave behind us 
Footprints on the sands of time.'' 

She said that "little boys should try to become 
great officers of the state or of the army, and thus be- 
come distinguished men of their country, and httle 
girls should aim and set their marks high, and become 
something in the world, and not live and die a nobody. 
The public professions and offices of the future are 
waiting for you to fill, and because you do not become 
an officer of the government, a physican, or lawyer or 
professor of some college, is because you do not try 
now while you are young. I would rather starve in 
the meanest povery, than to be a low servant girl, to 
wash dirty clothes and do the meanest kind of work 
for other people." 

A'irtue is its own reward, thought Lillian. That 
is truly virtue, when beset with the severest tempta- 
tions, and holds out faithful to a good conscience. 
So Lillian, although her virtuous mind loathed the 
sentiments of her teacher, it did not become her de- 
fiantly and openly to attack and oppose her argu- 
ments. 

Three years had already passed away since her 
return to. her imcle's. She had her friends with whom 
she lived before this to comfort her. She had also 
won many friends at the other school district. Here, 
where she now was, it appeared as though she had 
no true friend whom she could trust ; she found her- 
self betrayed and despised. Lillian was not yet 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 239* 

aware that envy and pride had prepared their coils 
to drag her down, and debase her name and reputa- 
tion at school. Under such circumstances she drew 
nearer to her little book for counsel, and carried her 
heavy heart to the foot of the cross. All the inge- 
nuity her enemies made use of to invent means of 
cruelty to persecute and exasperate her grieved spirit 
in her lonely condition, could not induce her to give 
up her cherished little treasure to the flames, or bury 
it in forgetfulness. She held to it like a vise, and 
resolved to endure these persecutions, until the time 
came when she would be able to abandon her tor- 
mentors forever. This resolution she kept in her 
own heart, and pursued her studies faithfully, and 
strengthened her drooping spirits by looking forward 
to the day of deliverance. She learnt from her h't- 
tle book, that the safest way to freedom lay in the 
valley of affliction, through which she firmly believed 
the powers above would safely lead her. 

In spite of these difficulties, she continued to hold 
the first position in her class, besides taking private 
lessons in vocal and instrum_ental music, for which 
the musical institution afforded the best opportunities. 
This was the advice she received from her friends in 
Rolling Meads in former years, not to neglect the 
advantages she had for a good musical education. 
This correspondence she had long since been forced 
to abandon. Under manifold perplexities and anx- 
ious complications, by exercise, her judgment became 
stronger, and she was more able to endure her tor- 
mentors, like a soldier bombarded in a fort, and at- 



240 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools, 

tacked at every corner. She proved a good general 
in opposing the efforts and snares undertaken to 
thwart her progress and prevent her graduation. For 
her uncle and his family never had been interested in 
her welfare as much as in her estate, and as they 
could not force her to deny her religious principles, 
they sought to disgrace her, to prevent her gradua- 
tion and put her to an open shame. They laid plans 
to drag her down to the slums, which, being accom- 
plished, would afford them an excuse to abandon her 
-altogether. This pleased her cousin very much, for 
she had failed in her last examination, and fell back a 
whole year. They gave her teacher great sums of 
money, and bribed her to assist them in their scheme, 
to defame and disgrace her good name. The lowest 
characters in the school were now hired and put up 
to torment and revile her in scurrilous language and 
unchaste expressions. These low characters would 
follow her, pretending to gallant her home, until the 
whole school was full of bad reports about her; which 
the teacher and her favorites fanned into a breeze of 
ioul-moutbed slander, like low buzzing, soft and silly 
moths, that eat up an innocent reputation, and an 
honest and virtuous name. Their tongues spit out 
gall and venom, enough to strike an angel down. 
These foulest whelps of vice were forever on her trail, 
barking at the good, the upright, and the fair. Their 
poison was like the wind, it entered every crevice, and 
stole honor from the holiest sanctuary. Like a ser- 
pent, it coiled itself into the secrets of her private 
life, and even the grave of her ancestors is entered, 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 241 

ransacked and dishonored by those troops of low- 
breathed insinuating emmisaries. Ever varying and 
changing-, these slanders became pregnant with 
boundless falsehoods on their journey. Pride 
and anger are too willing to surrender the vic- 
tory to the wanton tongue of malice. No charm can 
tame this winged brute, or choke the cutting throats 
of slander. These vile dogs have their mouths full 
of their own filth, and are forever turning to their 
own vomit. The fruit is like the tree that bare it. 
Slander can only come from low grovehng spirits, 
who seek to tear down the good names of their bet- 
ters. It hves on chastity, purity and a blameless life. 
The better you are, or try to be, the more bitter and 
numerous these outrageous vipers dog your heels. 
Let them alone. They will dig their own graves, 
where death will seal their lips. 

This conspiracy had increased to such an extent, 
that all the scholars were personally involved in its 
object, to soil and utterly degrade the character of 
an innocent young lady. It was very near bringing 
poor Lilhan to despair. It had been under foot now 
for several years, with unrelenting bitterness. Her 
-sensitive nature made her very nervous under the 
lash of her tormentors, and she lost much needed rest 
and sleep. Meantime she counseled her soul to pa- 
tience, and wondered why these things could be, and 
set herself resolutely to work, to trace out the cause 
and source of this ill-treatment. 

After reviewing her own previous conduct ac- 
cording to her custom, she could not blame herself 



242 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

of any words or deed of cruelty or wrong towards 
those who were so bitterly abusing her. She could 
not think that it was her Christian faith and her firm 
hold in retaining her mother's little book constantly 
near her own person, that this alone could be suffi- 
cient to cause all her playmates, yea the whole school, 
to unite as one man to put her down at every effort 
she made or word she spoke to gain their favor. She 
was sorely repulsed with disgrace at every winning 
and innocent effort she made, or kindness she offered 
the playmates and scholars of her former confidence. 
This made her feel very lonely and down-hearted. 

One day she approached one of her associates, 
who had formerly been most intimate with her, and 
who possessed a sweet and kind disposition. She re- 
ceived Lillian with a very cold and formal grace ; she 
knit her brows, and sought to escape her presence ; 
when Lillian approached her on the subject, and asked 
the cause of her change of conduct toward her, _she 
tried at first to evade the charge, and then to excuse 
herself on account of the reports that were circulating 
about her. This stirred Lillian to the quick, and 
roused her wounded feelings, so that she demanded 
her friend ''to produce proofs and testimony of a sin- 
gle evil report, or else to drop them as false. This 
fairness and honesty demanded. Either drop it, and 
put no confidence in it, or prove it. And even if 
some evil reports should have the appearance as 
though they could be so, duty requires a hearing and 
investigation before censuring your friend, and all 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 248 

charity, love and mercy for the lowly in their distress, 
cannot wholly have left your heart." 

After this attack, the resolutions of her plighted 
word, into which she had entered by her teacher's 
influence and money, began to shake, and she felt very 
uneasy, and sought to go away. But Lillian held 
her fast and would not let her go. She pursued her 
so piteously and beseechingly, as though her very 
heart was bleeding, and pleaded her to be kind as 
formerly, and allow her to enjoy her company. She 
tried to break away, because she knew she could not 
withstand the charms of that sweet and innocent voice. 
Her heart was touched, and memory thrummed its 
cords into happy unison, and ere she was aware of it, 
she found herself in Lillian's company, away down 
in the meadows gathering shells from the brook and 
flowers that grew on its banks. 

In her playful mood Lillian succeeded with her 
cheer, so far to disconcert her friend as to discover 
that she was in an actual conspiracy against her, 
that she knew as well as Lillian, that all these re- 
ports were false, and were gotten up to disgrace her, 
to have her expelled from school and sent to the 
slums of the city. After Lillian promised faithfully 
to shield and not expose her friend, she let her into 
the secret, and revealed the whole conspiracy. And 
it was high time for the dreadful mystery to be solved, 
and that Lillian should become aware of the nature 
of the dark cloud with ever-increasing blackness that 
was gathering about her, threatening her with the 
loss and ruin of her good name, a loss irreparable 



-244 Fountains of Streains and Public Schools. 

and worse than death itself. She now understood 
why those mean boys were dogging her heels, and 
were watching her for the opportunity to catch her 
off her guard. Even some of the most respectable, 
intelligent and fine looking young men of the school 
were engaged to lead her astray. They solicited her 
compan}- with the most enticing and promising pro- 
posals. Xow she understood what it all meant, both 
the tlattery as well as the abuse, and she resolved to 
attack and struggle with the demon on her pathway, 
and summon all her powers to the conflict. With 
these thoughts she retired, after her devotions and 
petitions for help and wisdom. 

Then sleep came to her weary eyes, sweet child- 
like sleep : and she smiled in her sleep, for the angels 
were guarding her thoughts and leading her to vic- 
tory over her foes, and wiping away the dewy pearls 
that hung in her eyelashes, and singing to her the 
noiseless lullabies of heaven. Refreshed and cheered 
over this revelation, she took her friends to counsel, 
and immediately began to expose her secret enemies. 
Her argus eyes were not slow to detect their foils. 
She reported what she had learned from all those 
whom the teacher had employed in her scheme, to the 
superintendent. The result was, her teacher lost her 
position, and was dismissed with disgrace, while Lil- 
lian got another and much better teacher. For this 
she was glad. By controlling her, her uncle's family 
thought they could control her inheritance, and keep 
it in their power. 

She now besfan to consider within herself, that 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 245 

after enduring such wretched treatment so many years, 
being deceived by her uncle in the first place, and be- 
trayed afterwards, that it would be no wrong in her, 
if she would begin to assume the responsibility of 
her own personal afifairs ; and as their neglect of her 
welfare, their hateful bearing and extremely offensive 
conduct toward her, became in her view unnecessary 
to be borne any longer, she took a step forward, 
which immediately opened their eyes to consider their 
circumstances, which were inevitably plunging them 
into total bankruptcy by their own carelessness and 
inordinate pride. They were too proud to acknowl- 
edge their wrongs and ill-treatment, for Lillian had 
a soft heart, and would have had pity on them even 
then, but they allowed their own overbearing spirits 
to blindfold them as to the real condition of their 
financial resources, now at their lowest ebb, and could 
only be kept afloat by the assistance of Lillian's in- 
heritance. 

One Saturday evening after supper, Lillian spoke 
to her uncle as they were all at the table : ''Uncle, I 
have concluded to quit boarding here. It is not 
necessary for me to bear with such treatment I have 
received at this place any longer. I will begin to 
board to-morrow morning somewhere else. So, good- 
bye." And she arose without waiting for a reply, and 
went to her room, while the rest sat there white with 
rage, sullen and angry, with guilt written on their 
faces. Her uncle grew pale ; his lips trembled ; he 
n-.uttered and tried to express himself, but sat there 
staring at the floor, with one elbow on the edge of 



246 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

the table and his hand in his hair, while his lips 
quivered and his whole frame shook until the dishes 
rattled on the table. His daughters shed angry tears, 
while the oldest was the first to speak out, and said : 
''Well, let her go ! Wq can do without her. She 
can go and get a room some place else, too. If our 
board is not good enough, then our house is not good 
enough, either." Here the younger son broke in, 
whose judgment seemed to be the ballast of the 
whole family : "Hold on now. Sis, you don't know 
what you are saying. The truth is, that this house 
belongs to Aliss Alorven, more than it does to us, 
and you'll find it out, too, if you all keep on in this 
way. The fact is, that if we would have all stood to- 
gether as I and father wanted you to do years ago, 
we might have been out of debt, and kept our home, 
but you girls would not earn any money, and were 
all the time on the go, visiting entertainments and 
getting up entertainments until you have entertained 
the whole family out of house and home. Of course, 
I spent money too, when I saw the greatest bulk of 
what we should have sav^ed, was thrown out of doors 
like old rubbish. Xow the time will soon be here 
when }ou would be glad to get some of that rub- 
bish back again. There is no use letting on now 
about spilt milk. The best thing for us to do now 
is to turn everything into money as fast as we can, 
sell all but what we must have to live, not spend an- 
other cent, put everything we have to the best account, 
and every one keep busily at work. Our creditor is 
not Lillian, she will lose nothing, but the judge of 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 247 

Kolling Meads Is pushing us. You know that he 
and a friend of his made themselves responsible for 
the money. They must pay Lillian every cent, and 
she knows it. Now the question must be settled once 
more, and I want to know how all are agreed to 
settle it right away: What shall we all do under the 
circumstances? If my three sisters do not quit 
spending money and go to work and earn some, by 
putting their education to some account as book- 
keepers, clerks or stenographers, I for one will go 
to work for myself, and the rest of you may run this 
boat. I shall leave it for good." 

These were scorching words that burned like 
fire, for they were true, and meant in deep earnest- 
ness and determination. The old man was still star- 
ing at the floor, with his elbow on the table and his 
head resting in his hand as before. His lips had 
ceased to quiver and his frame from trembling. His 
jaw had slightly fallen, leaving his mouth open as if 
about to speak. There he sat, stifif, rigid and cold in 
death. His nerves were stretched to their utmost 
tension so many years to meet his responsibilities and 
keep up the appearances of prosperity and first-claSs 
society in his family, that they snapped like tinder 
or an electric shock, that breaks down all the powers 
at one fatal blow. It was a terrible fright to the 
whole family. They sent for Lillian to comfort them 
in their afHiction, for death and eternity were no 
articles of adornment or sweet morsels of honeyed 
pleasures dished up by the world's pride and ambi- 
tion, and never seriously entered their minds. Now 



248 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

when they were required to face the dread monster, 
they became as helpless and dependent as babes ; they 
stood and crM and wrung their hands, and made all 
kinds of confessions and acknowledgments to Lillian, 
who also was very much excited and shocked that 
this should all follow so closely on the heels of her 
remarks at the table. Yet Lillian was in no way to 
blame, as the physician assured them, that his ex- 
hausted condition was bound to bring on such a re- 
sult sooner or later. 

Where now were they to go for comfort? True 
it was, that friends of their ilk flocked in to extend 
their cold sympathies. But the soul in such an hour 
yearns for more tender and warmer sympathy than 
this world affords, when death and eternity opens 
before it. They could not be quieted, until they drew 
near to Lillian, and asked her for her private prayers, 
and to read to them out of her little book, which she 
promised to do when they were alone and about to 
retire for the night. They kindly requested her to 
lend them her aid and counsel in their bereavement. 
and submitted all the arrangements for the funeral 
into her charge. She went to work, and soon had 
everything proceeding in the best of order, while 
CA'ery one followed her directions. The funeral came 
oil the third day in the afternoon. There was little 
comfort in the sermon against death and the powers 
of sin and darkness, which were united like so many 
dreaded demons to torment the souls of those who 
mourn departed friends. The sermon richly, dished 
up all the comforts this world could afford, but even 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 249' 

these were sorry comforts now for them, for the 
preacher had mistaken their condition, which made 
the matter worse, for all this world's comfort was 
passing away in one common crash of ruin. As to 
the future world, the preacher portrayed a good moral 
life on earth as the basis of our happiness in the great 
beyond. This also was a failure, and their hearts were 
bleeding and helpless. It was only after the funeral 
was over, and Lillian had read a number of Psalms 
and suitable passages from the New Testament, and 
by her explanations comforted and encouraged them 
with Christ's full satisfaction and atonement, that new 
energies worked a change, which was seen in their 
whole bearing. They confessed they never knew her 
little book contained the only consolation against 
death and a dark eternity. Here was light, and life 
and joy ; and again they, took courage, and began, 
to battle with the realities of life before them. 

They all united now with might and main in the 
counsel and course mapped out by the younger 
brother, whom they had appointed administrator, and 
to whom they submitted the direction of their affairs. 
He satisfied his creditors, partly by payments from the 
proceeds of the sale, and partly by good promises to 
cancel the debt in a few more years. Lillian was sur- 
prised to see the change, the stir and bustle that was 
going on the next week in her uncle's family. Their 
bearing was now humble, polite and respectable to- 
ward her. It was a change all round for the better,, 
and she congratulated herself, that she was incidentally 
the cause of it. Thev saw that the time had now come 



250 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

for hard work, and they all buckled on the resolution 
to go through with it, and fight their way through 
-misfortune to independence once more. 

Now nature's messengers were heralding that 
Spring had come everywhere, and that the hour will 
soon be here, when the dark doors of Lillian's cage 
w^ould be opened, and then she would be free to fly like 
a dove to her mountain. Oh ! how her heart now flut- 
tered with cheer as the day was approaching ! Oh ! 
how sweet is young liberty, obtained at such a time 
of the year, at such a time in life, and under such cir- 
cumstances ! Oh ! the pathos and surprise of so much 
cheer awaiting her, unknown and unexpected by her- 
self and her friends ! Such days are the foretastes of 
better times. Soon she would graduate with full hon- 
ors as a first class scholar and musician. Soon she 
would be flying away through fields scented with 
clover blossoms, and trees all covered and festooned 
with flowers, — homeward bound ! There she would 
meet her almost forgotten and long lost friends, and 
would institute proceedings to obtain entire and free 
control over her own estate. What a fine prospect 
for a fully developed girl of eighteen summers, 
equipped with an education of which few can boast, 
whose beauty and intelligence was the envy of thous- 
ands, and the delight of all who saw her. Her beauty 
did not consist as many think it ought, in pride and 
a haughty disposition. On the contrary, her whole 
demeanor prominently showed a disposition of the 
sweetest humility, ready to jump at any kind of work 
to earn her living with the lowly, to partake of their 



Persecution of Christian Orphan, Etc. 251 

cheer and their humble song, or play her part in the 
counsels of the great and the good. Her taste in 
dress was very chaste and appropriate to her exquisite 
form ; her walk and movements graceful and neat ; 
her whole deportment attractive and harmonious ; she 
had her admirers from the rank and file of every age 
in human life ; she had charms for the infant in the 
cradle ; for the child that romped on its way to school ; 
for the boy and girl rollicking in their teens ; for man- 
hood burdened and weary with toil ; and old age bowed 
down to the earth, looking for a grave ; who would 
turn their ravished ears from lisenting to the music of 
angels, to hear the delicious words of her conversation. 
Such a star was not born to blush unseen, or fiing 
away its bright radiance on the world's cold and vacant 
air. Her lovliness and beauty was brighter than the 
stars ; for it beamed forth in brightest splendor under 
the rays of the midday sun, and outshone the sun 
itself ; for the sun's beauty will die and fade away, her's 
can neither die nor fade ; for it does not consist in the 
mere colors of the sun's varying light, but beneath 
the rainbow's film beamed forth the glories and living 
virtues of an immortal and truly Christian spirit, puri- 
fied in the hottest furnace of afiiiction, and polished 
in the schools of woe. Soon she was to burst from her 
long confinement, where she was as a rose among 
thorns,, as a bird of paradise, picked of its feathers 
every year, but now full grown in luxuriant array, 
to be plucked no more. Soon she was to become a 
sweet scented Lily in a garden of ten thousand bril- 
hant and bright blooming flowers, at Fountains of 
Streams. 



OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS EDUCATE FOR PUBLIC 
LIFE, AS AGAINST PRIVATE LIFE. 

;? ^ ^ 

WHILE Lillian was going through her fiery or- 
deal amid her persecutors, and pursuing her 
studies under manifold perplexities and disadvantages, 
far removed from true friends to encourage her or 
sympathize with her in her afflictions, one autumn, 
there was a school festival celebrated near Fountains 
of Streams. How happy would she have been to have 
taken part in it, and how happy would the whole As- 
sociation have been in her presence ! 

It was a very fine day in September, and the 
crowds of people were flocking together into the beau- 
tiful grove of Rolling Meads. The fruits of the earth 
were ripe, and wreaths of flowers festooned the stage ; 
roses of various hues, tuberoses and the choicest of 
sweet-scented plants were there, interspersed with 
beautifully woven garlands of golden arborvitse. The 
whole grove was filled with fragrant odors. Baskets, 
fifled with luscious fruits, ripe apples, peaches, pears 
plums and grapes, with pies and fried chicken in 
abundance, stood around under the trees, and vehicles 
loaded with fruits and flowers, were on the way to the 
grove. A dinner free to all guests was previouslv an- 
nuonced : and from the smiling crowds that stood 
around gazing on these preparations, it could easily 
be seen that all were fullv satisfied, that thev were not 



Our Public Schools Educate, Etc. 253 

going to be disappointed. All college students far 
and near were convinced that nobody in the world 
could fry chicken, bake such pot-pie, pies and cakes, 
like the women and girls of Rolling Meads. 

We would not have referred to this festival, had 
not the exercises included an excellent oration on the 
training and education of youth, and preparing them 
for the more common and humble callings in life. This 
was the chief oration on the programme for the day, 
and was held in the forenoon. The afternoons on 
such occasions were generally spent in social and 
friendly conversation and diversion. It is not neces- 
sary to describe the opening exercises. Suffice it 
to say that the music rendered was most excellent, 
and admirably adapted to the occasion. 

The superintendent of the parochial schools at 
Fountains of Streams, then spoke the following ora- 
tion : 

"Dear Friends and Fellow Citizens ! — Methinks, 
the very stones at our feet could stand up and turn to 
orators on this occasion, and the vocal songsters of the 
grove furnish the music, while the awful silence of the 
forest afifords an auditorium, and every leaf that hangs 
pendant from the branches of green foliage, become a 
listening ear, to drink in the inspiration of innumei- 
able voices, regaled with the aroma of sweet spices, the 
ripe fruits of autumn, and with the fragrance and 
beauty of thick clustering flowers. 

Methinks, that the vast audience assembled in this 
grove to-day, should be as happy as Eden's bird, be- 
fore the curse blackened its vales, and blasted its shores. 



254 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

Happy the eyes that dwell on the scene aronnd us ; 
happy the ears that listen to the good tidings of great 
joy, wafted hitherward on the sweet melodies of sacred 
song ; thrice happy day to the soul that drinks in melo- 
dies unheard by the sensual ear, that hearkens to the 
harp of a thousand strings, awakened by the brush of an 
angel's wings, and borne along softly as the zephyrs 
that come to us in our dreams, to the sinstricken spirit 
and hardened soul. Let the soft pipes play on, and 
make melody in our hearts, and praises to Him who 
hath given us the victory over the powers of sin, death 
and everlasting darkness, and restored unto us the 
powers of light and life, to brighten up and make 
cheerful our pathway through this vale of tears^ 
through the narrow confines of the grave into the up- 
per kingdom of glory, where there are joys and pleas- 
ures forevermore. 

These trees must fall ; these flowers fade ; and all 
earthly comforts fail; but the Word of the Lord en- 
dureth forever. That Word by which God built up 
this world and displayed His creative power and wis- 
dom, and surrounds us to-day with so many earthly 
joys, is ours. It is a lamp to our feet and a light on 
our path, a trusty guide and friend to lead us over the 
billows of the storm tossed ocean of life, unto the bright 
shores of an endless bliss. Its cheering and comfort- 
ing powder is ever the same, to elevate and strengthen 
the soul in any and every occupation or calling in life. 
It enters the hovel of the lowly and toiling poor, the 
manufactories of wealth, the mansions of the great, 
the prison cells of the wretched and condemned, and 



Our Piiblic Schools Educate^ Etc. 255> 

the regions of cruelty alike, to ofifer to the millions of 
earth's inhabitants the same bread of life that came 
down from heaven. It does not come to destroy, but 
to build up and make alive. It does not overthrow 
the various avocations so necessary to the welfare and 
prosperity of the human family here below, but estab- 
lishes them, elevates and sanctifies them all into call- 
ings of God's nobility, and brings them into a glorious 
harmony to secure unto all, the peaceable pursuits 
of life and the fruits of honest toil. 

While the Master requires us to work, if we would 
eat the fruits of His vineyard, He does not force us 
into any particular calling or trade, but leaves us free 
to exercise our own judgments and tastes, to choose 
for ourselves what is most suitable and best for our 
abilities and capacities. No one can excuse himself 
on the ground that all the profitable and honorable 
places are taken up, and he can find no employment. 
All places and occupations useful to the welfare of 
man, are alike profitable and honorable before God,, 
and the throne of common sense. 

The Word of God in its creative power has es- 
tablished and upholds the law of variety in the uni- 
verse. One star differs from another in the power 
and brilliancy of its glory, and yet all the stars are 
necessary, to make up the shining canopy. The fish 
of the deep dififer in size and quality of food, and yet 
they are all necessary to satisfy human tastes and appe- 
tites, for these are as different as the fish in the ^ea,. 
or the stars of heaven. Behold, the flowers of the 
field, what an infinite variety of form, radiance, fra~ 



256 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

grance, usefulness and beauty; behold, the birds of 
the air, what a luxuriant variety of shining plumage, 
beauty of form, habits and song ; and yet all the flowers 
that grow and bloom, and all the birds that fly and 
sing, are necessary to harmonize the world of beauty, 
delicacy, sweetness and song. 

The creative word in the beginning, that com- 
manded the earth to bring forth grass, herbs and trees 
yielding seed and fruit after the variety of their kind ; 
and the sea and all waters to bring forth abundantly 
the variety of fish that swim and birds that fly ; and 
the earth to bring forth every beast and creeping thing 
after his kind ; has not lost its creative power, but con- 
tinues to new create all these varieties of natural life 
in nature's kingdom, day after day. Wherever in the 
natural lives of men and women there is life and joy, 
prosperity and advancement, or any good thing, 
whether among a barbarous or a civilized people, 
whether in the huts of ignorance or in the halls ot 
congress or the courts of kings, it is all the result 
of the Word of God's creative power. It is the es- 
sential Word that gives life to the material universe, 
as well as to the world of souls and spirits. ^lan liveth 
not by bread alone, because bread in itself has no 
power to support natural life. It receives this powei 
from the Word. Xo wonder everything is sanctified 
by the Word of God and prayer, for by such sanctifi- 
cation everything is strengthened and enabled to fulfill 
its appointed task in the universe ; for everything exists 
and lives by every Word that proceedeth out of the 
mouth of God. Therefore let the Word of God and 



Our Public Schools Educate^ Etc. 257 

the Bible be as free to every one as the universe it 
has made. To aboHsh or Hmit this freedom among 
men, is the work of sin and the prince of darkness. 

There are but few stars of the first magnitude; 
but few whales in the sea ; but few elephants and huge 
beasts on the land ; there is but one eagle of the broad 
and sweeping wing ; but one bird of paradise ; but 
one night-blooming cereus ; but one rose of Sharon. 
Should then a star of lesser magnitude say to its 
Maker: 'Why hast Thou made me thus? Why hast 
Thou not made me a star of the first magnitude?' 
Then the gold fish might say: 'Why hast Thou not 
made me a whale?' and the little canary: 'Why hast 
Thou not made me an eagle?' and the Httle daisy 
might say : 'Why hast Thou not made me a night- 
blooming cereus ?' and the shoemaker might say : 
'Whv hast Thou not made me a king, or an emperor, 
or a congressman?' and the servant girl that sweeps 
the house might begin to quarrel with her lowly sta- 
tion and say : 'Why hast Thou not made me a queen, 
or a princess?' All these cranks are dissatisfied with 
them.selves as God made them. They forget that the 
humble stations and callings in life are more numer- 
ous and more beneficial than the lofty ones. The 
servant girl should know, that servant girls are more 
necessary and worth more than queens and princesses, 
and a million are required before one queen or prin- 
cess is asked for. Thousands of shoemakers are re- 
quired, before one king, emperor or congressman. 
Give me a field full of millions of sweet little daisies 
that laugh together in the sun, before one proud 



258 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

blooming cereus with fetid and sickening breath, that 
cannot endure the Hght or the air, and fades and dies 
in a day. Give me but one Httle canary, and you may 
have all the eagles in the world, with the buzzards 
thrown in. Are not the little gold fish more beau- 
tiful than the whale ; and the stars of lesser magni- 
tude are often possessed with a more brilliant and 
beautiful radiance than their greater brothers. 

Yet this great quarrel, this discontent and dis- 
satisfaction goes on, and threatens to overthrow the 
very foundations of society, and to establish upon its 
ruins, a condition, lit only for the beasts of the field. 
Innumerable crimes and a great portion of unhappi- 
ness in the world, comes from the fact, that men and 
women are in places where they do not belong, be- 
cause they were taught in the common school room 
distorted views of human life. The public schools 
fail to teach their pupils that the great majority of 
this life's avocations are humble, that the powers of 
the great majority of our young people fit them only 
for these humble places, and that no one is respectable 
and worthy of honor, when he is out of his place. 
Our children should all be educated to fill humble 
and subordinate stations in life, which they must fill 
at any rate, and leave the high places take care of 
themselves. For how can any one fill a high posi- 
tion, when he knows nothing about the low ones over 
which he is placed? Children should be taught to 
hold humble callings in esteem, and to beautify and 
glorify them by glad, contented and industrious lives. 

But humble callings are held in contempt in the 



Our Public Schools Educate, Etc. 259 

school room, and the consequence is, that feeble and 
incompetent powers are making the high callings in 
hfe contemptible ; and high powers and competent 
abilities must be content with low stations, where they 
must exercise their good nature at smiling at the 
whips and scorn of outrageous fortune. The faculty 
of imitation born in the child and bred and nourished 
from its mother's lap by its parents and teachers, is 
fed with ambition to be and do what it sees its parents 
and superiors are and perform. This creates un- 
bounded discontent. The little boy is dissatisfied with 
his boyhood, and wants to be a man, and can scarcely 
wait the time ; and the man has long since been discon- 
tented with his m.anhood, and wants to be a boy 
again. This natural desire and ambition is perverted 
in the child, and causes the failure of long cherished 
hopes, and creates dissatisfaction in men and women 
with their condition in life. These natural powers of 
imitation and ambition in the child, ought to be 
trained and nurtured, educated and kept in subordi- 
nation to the faculties of aptness and intelligence, so 
that the child may never get it into its head, to aim 
at being something far beyond and above what its 
natural capacities can ever acquire, and when forced 
upon it, is as much out of place, as the ass in the 
fable, that wanted to learn to play the lyre. 

Talking about fables, you have heard of the frog 
that thought itself as big as an ox, to make her chil- 
dren believe in her greatness and power to defend and 
shield them from harm. To show the dimensions of 
her greatness, she blowed herself up with wind, until 



260 Fountains of Streams and Pttblic Schools. 

her ambition burst through the Hmits of her powers, 
and blowed out all the abilities she ever had, and 
left them forever wasted and knocked to pieces on 
the ground, so that her children could not find enough 
pieces of their mother, to make a decent funeral. It 
is always best to confine our desires and ambition 
within the limits of our resources and necessities ; and 
it is even still better, to leave a considerable border 
inside of the limits of our capacities untouched, than 
to strain them to their utmost tension, where they 
are so liable to break, and then the balloon of our am- 
bition will collapse into a miserable wreck, to sail the 
air of intelligence no more. 

The owl once fell in love with the eagle, and 
persuaded him to take her to wife. There, upon the 
dead limb of an old dead tree, high up, sat the eagle, 
where there was no foliage to obstruct the vision of 
the monarch of the skies. Near by, in the dark shades 
of a low tree, covered and crowded with leaves, sat 
the owl. Said the owl to the eagle : 'Mr. Eagle, come 
over here into the dark, where nobody can see us ; 
it is so nice and cool here in the shade. Come over, 
and let us talk of love.' 'What do I care who sees 
us,' said the eagle, 'it is nobody's business what we 
do. But I don't like the dark, cold shade, I love the 
bright light, the warm rays and sunny skies ; here 
you can see far and wide, and survey in freedom na- 
ture's wide domain. Missie Owl, won't you come 
-over to me, dear?' 'Oh, no, no,' said the owl, 'my 
eyes are too weak, they cannot bear the light of the 
sun. You can come over to me.' Then the easfle 



Our Public Schools Educate, Etc. 261 

thought to himself: 'What a pity, that my true love 
should have weak eyes.' Then he went to visit the 
owl, and crowded up close to her on the limb. 'Don't 
crowd too close,' said the owl, as she raised her wings 
and stepped out of the way in high style. 'Now, said 
the owl, with a long breath, 'this is- a nice place, is 
it not, Mr. Eagle?' 'Well,' said the eagle, 'it may 
seem nice enough for some folks, that have weak 
eyes. But if you would come along with me to my 
home in the sun, your eyes would by and by get 
stronger, so they could endure the light as well as 
mine, and then you would become an eagle. All I 
know, I was an owl once too, like you are now.' 
The eagle was a wholesoul evolutionist, and believed 
in Darwin's theory of the transformation of souls and 
bodies, and believed in the survival of the fittest. 
So he did not go far from his principles, when he 
courted the owl. 'Come with me, and let us perch 
a while on that old tree, and your eyes will soon 
get used to the light.' Then spoke the owl: 'I 
would like ever so much to please you, Mr. Eagle ; 
but I cannot see how I would get anything to eat 
in daytime.' 'Leave that to me ; leave that to me,' 
said the eagle. 'I get my meals,' said the owl, 'dur- 
ing the night, when the mice are stirring, and the 
little birds are sleeping. Then I catch the mice and 
the birds, and have a good time. If you stay and 
feed with me, after a while you can see after night, 
and become an owl again.' 'But,' said the eagle, 'I 
do not eat living creatures, and I think it is very 
wrong in great folks hke us to prey on the innocent 



262 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

little people, to whom life is as sweet as it is to us. 
We eagles only feed on the flesh of those who die 
of their own accord, or our equals, whom we have 
overcome in honorable warfare. ]\Iurderers and 
thieves make their living by night. _ Come now, my 
dear, and lead a more honorable life, and get up into 
the sunlight, on my old tree there.' These powerful 
arguments were too much for the owl, and her strong 
love for the eagle prompted her to consent to his 
proposal. Yet she hesitated, and lifted her feet so 
nicely, as though she was tramping out grapes. She 
said she would, not go with him, until he promised to 
marry her, and help her all he could. 'Very well,' 
said the eagle, rejoiced, and made as though he was 
about to kiss her, and took her by the bill, and away 
they flopped together, up into the eagle's tree. There 
they sat together a good while, and the owl's eyes 
were blinking in the sun, and her head was getting 
dizzy, and she began to rock to and fro on the limb as 
though she was about to fall. 'Oh my !' cried the owl, 
'Mr. Eagle, my head begins to swim, and I think 
I am getting sick. Do help me !' Then Mr. Eagle 
gallanted her over against the body of the tree, where 
she could prop herself and not fall. 'Now,' said the 
eagle, 'lift up your head and look around,' and by 
that he put his bill under her chin and lifted up her 
head. But the. light was so painful she had to shut 
her eyes, and before she knew it, she went careering 
backwards over the limb, and if it were not for her 
strong claws by which she held so fast, she would 
have fallen to the ground. There she hung suspended 



Our Public Schools Educate, Etc. 263 

in the air and cried for help. Then the eagle flew 
around and wanted to show her how smart he was, 
and caught her by the bill and balanced her on the 
limb, and against the tree again, and got a few sticks 
and placed them into the forks of the tree, so she 
would not fall; and then, to cheer her up, he went 
to work and sang her this little song, the gist of 
all love songs : 

"Oh, stay with me, and be my mate,. 
And we will love and laugh at fate ; 
We'll soar o'er hills and dales and field, 
And harvest, home their choicest yield. 

On high we'll build among the rocks. 
Where conies feed in feeble flocks ; 
Where fountains gush and waters fall, 
And nature's wilds endear them all. 

Thy golden locks, like morning mist 
The mountain winds in coils entwist. 
And twist my heart with melting charms, 
To roll in raptures in thine arms. 

Let angels on ambrosia feed. 

And nectar sip in golden mead ; 

Let lords and kings take thrones and lands. 

Give me but thee in love's true bands. 

The bear and hare shall dance and sing. 
The fox shall play the fiddle string. 
For thy delight, my lovely mate; 
Then stay with me, and laugh at fate." 

Then the owl said : 'Mr. Eagle, you can sing very 
nice, and I like your company very much indeed, but 
my head aches, and I think I have now been up here 



264 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

long enough for the first time, and wish you would 
take me down.' The eagle helped her to the ground, 
and led her about over sunshiny spots in the grove, 
and after treating her in this way three or four days, 
the owl thought she could see much better than she 
ever saw before ; so the eagle concluded it was about 
time to take his bride to his home in the sun, way 
up on the craggy tops of the high mountains, where 
the eagles build their nests. However, he was in a 
blue study how to accomplish the feat. At length 
he hit on an excellent plan. He told her to hook 
her crooked nose into his finger nails, spread her 
wings, and so he sailed round and round into the air, 
higher and higher, until at last they landed safely in 
the eagle's mountain home. 

At first, they had a mind to keep their arrival 
as secret as possible, until they were joined as man 
and wife. ]\Ir. Eagle could not get any priest among 
all his kindred to perform the ceremony, and he 
thought very hard of it. So he had to go to an old 
sniveling and dirty 'squire, who was a disgrace to 
all his neighbors. He performed such jobs for run- 
aways on the sly, for a small fee. To please the bride, 
the knot was tied in the dark. When it became 
known, however, to ]\Ir. Eagle's friends and neigh- 
bors that they were married, there arose a terrible 
clatter, scolding and screaming and jabbering among 
the eagles, because one of their tribe had taken an 
owl to wife, and had stolen her away from home, 
and married her, which was against all order and 
decency, and they were not going to tolerate it. 



Our Public Schools Educate, Etc. 265 

Now the eagles would sneer at him and tease 
him, and they picked at his wife until they had al- 
most robbed her of all her feathers, so she looked like 
a Thanksgiving turkey, ready for the pot. It was 
very uncomfortable for them among such base and 
unruly neighbors. Mr. Eagle was determined to de- 
fend his wife against the whole tribe, and told them 
it was none of their business where he got his wife, 
or how ; that they did not need to live with her, and 
that he would do as he pleased, and if they did not 
leave them alone, he would make it hot for them. 
This made his friends very angry, and they began 
to persecute him more and more. Now Mr. Eagle 
told his wife he was not going to stand it. So. Mr» 
Eagle goes to a man who was burning brush in his 
clearing, and gets a firebrand, and while the eagles 
were all away from home one day seeking food, he 
set their houses on fire and burnt up the whole vil- 
lage. This produced a declaration of hostilities, and 
the eagles retaliated, and burnt down his house, and 
whipped his wife. So, after murdering those who 
whipped his wife, he took her to another part of the 
mountain, where they went to housekeeping by them- 
selves, and built the grandest mansion of all the eagles. 
By and by some of his friends came to see him, just 
to look at his fine house, and see the nice furniture 
he had. He put on all the style he could find, and 
borrowed money from his friends to buy more. Their 
honeymoon lasted pretty near a whole year, before 
they came down to the realities of life. Then Mr. 
Eagle fell in debt ten times- more than he was worth,. 



:266 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

and the sheriff threatened to sell him out ; and he 
grew careless and slack in his attentions, which Mrs. 
Owl soon observed, and became very gloomy and de- 
spondent. Now she was grumbling nearly all the 
time, and was very snappy and cross. She scolded 
Mr. Eagle for not bringing nicer and fresher meat 
for the table, telling him that his meat was always 
about half rotten. He told her that was the style of 
folks of quality, never to eat their meat fresh, but 
to wait until it became stale. She became careless 
about her housekeeping. She dressed very slovenly, 
l)ut did her best to keep up all their style with all the 
dirt. I saw her one day come into the house with 
her dress grasped together in front of her, full of 
eggs, she had gathered at the barn, and she fairly 
strutted over her nice brussels carpet in the parlor 
where I was sitting, and she would turn her head 
and arch her neck to one side and then to the other, 
and look at her long and nasty trail, for it was the 
fashion in those days for dresses to have long trails, 
and she craned her neck clear round for fear I would 
not notice her trail ; and as she thus walked and 
strutted across the floor, with her eye in a fine frenzy 
rolling, she exposed her dirty feet, and the hen and 
cow manure sticking up between her toes. I must 
confess, she looked as pretty as a mud fence, stake 
and ridered with bullfrogs. She was now stone blind 
of one eye, and could see very little out of the 
other. Yet, she could roll and bat her eyes so be- 
witchingly, and smile on, as though she meant you. 
.Squint eyes took, in those days, among the aristoc- 



Our Public Schools Educate, Etc. 267 

racy, because it made them look cute and smart. 
Mrs. Eagle thought she was somebody, because she 
had married into the nobiHty. Mr. Eagle became 
more and more discontented, however, and dissatis- 
fied at the conduct of his wife ; love had now grown 
cold between them, and he .took her to task about her 
carelessness, and complained that she never went out 
with him any more, to visit his friends. He called 
her a slouch, and so one thing after another brought 
on many quarrels. 

One day, when he was covering her with harsh 
€pithets, he called her a blind goose ; she retaliated, 
and said that he was nothing but a lazy snipe. This 
raised his dignity ; so he up and slapped her on the 
mouth. Then came the tug of war. She went at him 
with all fours. The eagle shrieked ; the owl screamed. 
They clawed and scratched, and picked and pounded 
•each other like fury. Finally, Mrs. Owly-Eagle got 
her strong claws fastened into Mr. Eagle's throat, 
and he was not able to free himself from her grasp. 
She held on. He tried to escape by flopping out at 
the door, dragging her along. Her fingers were now 
locked into his bleeding flesh, so she could not free 
herself if she would, for it was her death grip and 
grapple. How spunky some of these girls are ! They 
flopped and fought, and tumbled around on the moun- 
tain, until they came too near the edge, and down 
they went, flopping and fighting, screaming and 
shrieking and tumbling from one rock to another, 
until they landed on the bottom of the ravine. There 
they were seen a few days afterwards, both dead, and 



268 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

the owl still had her fingers in the eagle's breast; 
united in life, united in death. That was the survival 
of the fittest ! 

Now the priests of the eagles refused to give them 
a respectable funeral, and passed them by as unworthy 
of notice. It is said : every dog has his day, and so 
had they. Thus ends the ambition and greatness of 
the notorious and distinguished, who break down the 
established order of society, who want to be something 
above the common order of mortals, something 
that will attract notice and create a sensation, some- 
thing revolting to dame nature herself. These eagle 
priests showed more judgment than many human 
preachers do, who preach the worst characters to 
heaven because their intentions were good, they meant 
it well, even if their whole life was a mistake and a fail- 
ure. Ambition always means well for itself, but when 
falsely directed and perverted, it brings discontent, 
strife and murder in its bloody trail. Dame nature 
will not allow her order to be overthrown with im- 
punity, by love, by ambition, or by good intentions. 
We must pay strict heed to her precepts, then health 
and happiness will spread their pavilion over us, and 
strife and discord will flee away. But it is not nature's 
order when farmers' daughters refuse to marry farm- 
ers' sons, and look out for one who stands higher in 
the world's estimation. And to catch some gay bird 
they deck and adorn, and trim themselves up with 
costly array. ^Multitudes dress and live too high for 
their means and needs, simply to keep up a show of 



Our Public Schools Educate, Etc. 269 

being something for which they never were designed — 
a fraud. 

How many Xantippes blow around through the 
country, mad as hornets at old Dr. Darwin, simply 
because they realize that they are not the fittest that 
survive. They denounce nature and lampoon her as 
an artist, because she made them women instead ot 
men. They hate men and boys, because they are not 
men and boys themselves. They have gone to school 
in the kingdom of Micomicon, where they have con- 
ceived and begotten the monstrous chimera, that men 
and boys have the cream of all the best places and 
occupations in life, and the poor lovely creatures are 
obliged to take what is left, to drudge and drink the lees. 
They are not content to be a partner with a man in his 
office and place ; they want dominion, and all others 
their servants. They would be supremely alone in 
their glory, and very often their wish is gratified, and 
they are left alone in their pride and ambition. They 
would like to be mothers bu-t because they cannot 
honorably enter her hallowed precincts without work 
and honest toil, they grumble and fret, fuss and blub- 
ber against the whole institution of motherhood. They 
hate little children on account of the work they make 
for their mothers, and hence they have long since 
fallen out with the holy angels, who do always behold 
tne face of their heavenly Father. They want to step 
high like the owl, where neither parents nor children 
survive ; where quarrels, divorces and murder are at a 
premium. 

These big somebodies are always spoiling for a 



270 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

sensation. They had it poked into their heads that 
they were born to dazzle, stun and bewilder the world 
with their beams. All who come out of our public 
schools want to shine in this way ; and they shine. 
This shining business is the hue and cry, the hobby 
and high mark of all their aspirations, and they are 
bound to shine, or die in the attempt. They put their 
shining apartments foremost, and care very little how 
they look in the rear. They cover their persons with 
richest and costliest robes ; they adorn themselves w^ith 
glittering tinsel for a show of high life and fashion ; 
they furnish their homes in the latest style ; they ride 
in chaises glittering with silver and gold ; and when 
you look into the rear, you find they are ten times 
more in debt than all their finery is worth. 

Like some virtuous young girl, who has been kept 
at home away from the evil influences of the proud and 
giddy world, until she is in her teens, and the first 
lesson she learns, is when she is allowed to take her 
first peep into the public school room, where she be- 
holds all the children rigged up in the farcical fop- 
pery of the gay world ; then she goes home and stands 
before the glass, and tricks herself out in all this new- 
fangled gingerbread, and enters into society with her 
back bursting like a summer locust, just creeping out 
of the shell. 

People spend more money only for a show, than 
they do for usefulness and comfort. They get up 
costly dinners and entertainments for their friends, 
and half starve themselves when alone and make them- 
selves and their homes uncomfortable. Thev borrow 



Our Public Schools Educate^ Etc. 271 

money to pay their grocery bills, their store bills and 
doctor bills, and a thousand other bills, as long as their 
credit lasts ; and when that is gone, they go it as long 
as they can on tick, until the doctor, the grocer and 
store keeper find out that their credit is like the girl's 
back, all bursted and what they have in front of them, 
is not their own. But right here is where the law 
comes in to their rescue and protection. The man 
makes an assignment, and they laugh at their creditors 
with a broad grin on their faces. Their impudence 
becomes their virtue ; they carry high heads and think 
themselves very wise and important, when they can 
feed, snore and grow fat all their days on other peo- 
ple's property, as though they were not the lowest 
class of thieves, robbers and scoundrels on the top 
of the round earth. In the hey day of life they fatten 
themselves and prepare themselves for a market, where 
all the baskets, wagons, barrels and stands are empty^ 
because they have no bottoms. 

No sober views of life are instilled into our chil- 
dren in the public schools. None of their teachers 
are fit and prepared for school teaching as their life's 
occupation. They teach only to get a little money 
to go into somethinsf else for a livelihood. Not one 
teacher ever dreams of ever devoting his life to that 
cause. Hence their hearts are not in the work, only 
so far as it yields them dollars and cents. They are 
nothing but beggarly hucksters at the public crib, and 
there is not one in a hundred who understands the 
oi^ce of forming the mental or spiritual forces into true 
man and womanhood. 



272 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

Children are bred to discontent, to aim high, to 
look out for a hig-h place, and nearly all fail to get one, 
and then away goes all courage, heart and content- 
ment ; they become desperate and abandoned to wreck- 
lessness, quarrels and divorce, or murder, and down 
they tumble, over the mountain, with the Eagle and 
the Owl. By our common school system our young 
people are generally unfitted for the place they should 
occupy and are forced into startions for which they have 
no natural fitness. The assurances given them that 
they can be anything they choose to become, is the 
schooling that produces idle drones, tramps and beg- 
gars, and after passing these grades, they have but a 
short step to reach their graduation, which is failure 
in life, burglary and suicide. They fail to become 
what they choose to become, and take what comes. 

They all commence life with high notions, and can 
by no means content themselves with their lot. They 
want to realize what had been promised them in 
school, and find their dreams vanish like smoke, and 
they are left disappointed and unhappy for life. They 
count their own lives a failure, and envy their more 
fortunate neighbors. Girls who are stuffed with these 
air bubbles, and behold them vanish Uke a dream, starve 
themselves, or do something worse, because they are 
too proud to work in some humble station that would 
afford them a livelihood. 

The idea forced into our children in the public 
schools, is that private life is a disgrace, and that 
public life alone is respectable. Hence our profes- 
sions are crowded to overflowing. The countrv is 



Our Public Schools Educate, Etc. 273 

filled with demagogues and quacks, and discontent 
prevails everywhere. When young men leave the 
public schools to enter upon the struggle of their 
ambition, they find that two years in a lawyer's ofiice 
will admit them to the bar, while a much longer time 
is required to learn a trade. As a consequence, the 
bar is cursed with pettifoggers, lawyers are scarce and 
difficult to obtain. The youth of the country are filled 
with the ambition to aim at political eminence by 
studying law, not so much for the sake of the profes- 
sion, as for the political advancement and advantages 
it affords. Multitudes of so-called lawyers are a dis- 
grace to the profession, and a curse to civilization. 
They are out of place and can not play their part. 
They have not brains enough to be decent, and are 
wholly void of the morals necessary to endure their 
presence in good neighborhoods. They live on strife 
and quarrels, and hatch them up to make a fat living. 
They have spoiled themselves for the enjoyment of 
private life, and spoil the private life of all their asso- 
ciates. 

The same holds good with the medical profession. 
A few weeks at a medical college, or a few years in a 
doctor's office, will procure them a diploma to prac- 
tice medicine. They live on the blunders and crimes 
of the people. If people would more carefully observe 
the laws of health, doctors would be less in demand. 
Protection and just punishment by process of law 
against malpractice is almost unknown, for if such a 
thing were possible, our courts would be overcrowded, 
for the great majority of sufferers under the care of 



274 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

the medical fraternity, when properly and strictly ex- 
amined would result in cases of gross malpractice. No 
wonder these quacks want to abolish capital punish- 
ment, for they know they would nearly all be hung, 
if their tricks were known. 

We find this profession crowded with quacks, who 
have formed a secret combination not to betray each 
other. Good physicians are scarce, and hard to find. 
Multitudes rush into the practice of medicine, because 
they lack the piety or disposition to become ministers 
of the Gospel, or brains to practice law. Every year 
whole armies of fresh fry invade this field, with one 
pocket full of knives and the other full of pills, to 
slaughter human beings, or drug them to death with 
medicine that kills, or fails to cure. Life in general 
would be spared, if the country were rid of them. 
Three-fourths who die in their hands, would get well 
on their own accord if let alone. Our old mothers, 
when there were no physicians in the country, and 
even the untutored savage, were more successful, than 
the quack fraternity of to-day. 

Th£ pulpit is filled with little brains without 
power, to run without a mission, and do not under- 
stand the work, because their professors in the semin- 
ary were base hirelings themselves. They strain their 
little brains at a sermon, and produce nothing- but rant- 
ing and vain repetition, noise and bluster without a 
single nail to drive, with the form of godliness, but 
lacking the power thereof. They strain their lungs 
to make a sensation, and advertise themselves in the 
pulpit and the newspapers. They want to be seen 



Our Public Schools Educate, Etc. 275 

and heard for their much speaking, and offer their 
services to every society they can prevail upon to 
employ them. For a few cents they join every lodge 
that comes along, and become their bobtail advertise- 
ment, and cry out at the top of their voice : 'Oh, what 
a noble work ! what charity ! what a blessing to the 
world !' They degrade the holy office to a cloak of 
maliciousness, to cover the most notorious scandals, 
vice and crime. They are a fraud. Hypocrisy and 
deceit are bred in our pulpits and pews, and the true 
sheep of the fold, go without a shepherd. Whole 
church or synodical organizations who claim to be 
orthodox and respectable, justify this anomaly, and 
defend it ! 

All the officers of public life are a curse to the 
community, so long as they fail to answer the purpose 
for which these offices were instituted. They were 
not establised to serve themselves or their encumbents, 
but solely for the object of serving and blessing private 
life, and making it healthy and happy. Public pro- 
fessions are full of temptations and trials, and require 
suitable gifts and the proper education. Those most 
fitted to fill public offices of trust, are the last to seek 
one. All the students in our common schools have 
the idea instilled into them, that to be smart they 
must be in public life, or they cannot win success ; and 
not more than one in a thousand can ever hope to 
reach it. All the rest must be disappointed ; then life 
becoms a burden to them and a failure. They feel 
as though they were outcasts, cheated out of their 
birthright, and study how to avenge themselves on 



276 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

those who plotted their ruin. Our children are taught 
to believe in high life, and it turns out to be a life below 
stairs. They were not taught to beheve that humble, 
private life is the normal condition designed by Provi- 
dence for the greatest number of men and women in 
the world. 

The school ought to give instructions in the best 
way to lit students for the humble occupations, which 
the greater ntmiber must fill, when they become men 
and Avomen. In school, they should receive the ele- 
ments of practical knowledge, for the proper means 
and conduct of life without crowding any fads and 
sentiments into them, which will make them uncom- 
fortable to themselves, and to those whom they serve ; 
it fills them with vain ambitions, and its influence is a 
curse that makes them unhappy. This kind of in- 
struction afliicts the mind with a passion for notoriety, 
and an appetite for distinction is fed from childhood. 
This desire for distinction has poisoned the whole 
social body like a cancer, so that politics have become 
the pursuit of the lowest grade of men, and hence the 
best men cannot be elected, because men of modesty 
and sense retire from the field in disgust. They itch 
for notoriety, and to obtain it, must leave their proper 
spheres, and take a position which nature and its 
Creator never intended them to fill. 

Xot one in a dozen of our legislators are qualified 
to make laws for the state, and half of them never read 
the declaration of independence. They are not there 
for the good of the state, but simply for notoriety and 
distinction. Barring: the few intellisrent and educated 



Our Public Schools Educate, Etc. 277 

lawyers in our state legislatures, the rest are wholly 
composed of men whose disposition, habits of thought, 
intellectual power, pursuits in life, altogether unfit 
them for the important and arduous functions of legis- 
lation, because they are elected from the ranks of petti- 
foggers and demag-ogues. Why not elect honest, able 
and suitable men from other callings in life, so that 
all may be represented ? 

Our public schools are perverted, and no longer 
answer the object for which they were established ; 
good citizen for the humble callings, in life. These 
favorite doctrines of the school teachers, are admitted 
by all our best educated men and women as the great- 
est evils, by which men and women are unfitted for 
humble places, and men and women of feeble powers 
are foisted into high places, for the duties of which 
they have neither natural nor acquired fitness. Young 
girls possessed of these notions become uncomfort- 
able in family service, and render any family they 
serve, their own as well as others, imhappy and miser- 
able. No servant girl possessed of these notions, will 
accept her condition with good nature, know and love 
her place, and enter her department as a harmonious 
member of the family itself. The contempt for all 
low and humble occupations, and the constant urging 
by the teacher of his favorite notions, that pupils 
should aim high and be something in the world, when 
they know that something is impossible for them ever 
to attain is a mocker)^ of human life, and an interfer- 
ence in the divine prerogative, and a contemptuous 
sneer against the laws of nature. To make a child 



278 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

whom God has intended to be a carpenter, and has 
given him a taste and bent of mind and muscle to this 
trade more than to any other, is the greatest injustice 
and wrong to all concerned, to urge him to become a 
very low and indifferent physician, lawyer or minister 
of the Gospel. These public schools are a curse to all 
the youth whom they unfit for their proper places in 
the world. They make their pupils believe that they 
can make anything of themselves they please. They 
do this to arouse ambition in their lazy pupils, 
to get more study out of them. I know entire schools 
urged to aim at the highest stations in life, and the 
most exalted public offfces in the government. I know 
enthusiastic female lecturers, who go from school to 
school, and harangue the pupils and cram them with 
such stuff that unfits them for the duties of life before 
them ; and at public meetings talk about "woman's 
rights," making themselves contemptible : for what 
sensible being can have any confidence in such petti- 
coated champions, who court mobs and notoriety, 
and delight in their opportunity to tear themselves 
away from private life, and be recognized by the public 
as a smart somebody, as a distinguished personage, 
even if that person is a notorious scandal and leach 
in society. This is the woman whose "steps take hold 
on hell," and goes in and out of the school room doors. 
The gambler is her gallant, who spreads golden 
snares to help her on her way ; gilded palaces invite 
her to music and intoxicating draughts : all marching 
under the banner of mad ambition and discontent. 

Sunk in discontent and vice, this creneration that 



Our Public Schools Educate, Etc. 279 

owes its training- chiefly to the pubHc schools, are 
prepared to receive and read the lascivious and de- 
grading literature of the times. Here, the most re- 
fined compositions that cost much time and labor, are 
watery with base and groveling insinuations, to feed 
the vilest thoughts and glorrify depravity itself. Here, 
the writers of fiction ply their trade and become 
wealthy, and wealth, not genius, makes them toler- 
able, only among the vile and ignorant. There are 
no first-class writers in literature, because there is no 
money in it. It is not in demand. It is at a dis- 
count among the general public. The taste of this 
age is vicious, and strengthenes, upholds, urges and 
praises the lust of base ambition, to exalt the devo- 
tees of discontent against the noblest, though humblest 
occupations in life. The fictitious works that deluge 
our public schools corrupt the morals of youth, be- 
cause they are void of all moral strength, and have 
no power to elevate and turn the mind to the only 
source whence their dispositions and habits may be 
improved with lasting benefits and virtuous tenden- 
cies. Learned and scientific men in Europe and 
America, all look down upon this literary trash with 
profound disgust. 

This state of our literature in its degeneracy, 
has its origin in the schools of our childhood, and 
is nourished by literary scamps, who feed it for money. 
The demand creates the supply, and according to the 
nature of the demand, st) will be the nature of the 
supply. The demand is for trash, and hence we have 
no first-class writers in literature. Talent is wasted 



280 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

in reveling in the ugly and dirty pool of human de- 
pravity, and much wit and humor is spent to make 
it appear heroic and virtuous. Here is a vast field 
for the children's imitation and ambition, heroes and 
heroines, love and murder. They never fail in some 
way or other to inculcate sentiments of derision and 
disdain against all obedience to parents and superiors, 
and against all old and tried writers of Christian 
morals. To exalt themselves they throw dirt at their 
superiors. There is not an upstart writer of the day, 
who has written a book that will live as long as its 
author. 

If we closely examine the lives of these authors, 
we find that they have all imbibed these sentiments 
in our public schools. The best and most virtuous 
writers now living, enjoyed the schools of fifty years 
ago, before this system of bloated ambition was 
foisted upon our schools. There are good writers 
who respect law and order in society, and advocate 
in their way the foundations upon which alone it can 
rest and prosper. They hold the works of the in- 
spired penman in high regard. They have felt their 
inspiration in the schools of old. They hold that he 
who would put shackles on the Bible to expel it 
from the public school room, is a pitiable wretch, a 
miserable atom, standing up against the Almighty. 
They give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and 
to God the things that are God's. God wants His 
Word to be free to all, that all may learn the way 
of salvation. As state laws protect the printing, pub- 
lication and distribution of Bibles, it has the right 



Otcr Public Schools Educate, Etc. 281 

to use it for the state's welfare. It is granted that 
the state protects and has control over all material 
possessions and wealth in the control of the church. 
The state uses the Bible and protects and controls 
church property for its own material interests and 
welfare. For Caesar is for this world only, not for 
the next. Here is God's domain, the eternal interest 
and welfare of souls. In this let no earthly power 
or authority interfere. The state that protects the 
rights of the church, should be protected in its rights 
by the church. This is a rule of gold. 

Our statesmen complain of the great discontent 
and loss of confidence among the laboring classes,, 
as the breeding swamp of strikes, tramps, commun- 
ists and anarchists, and bankruptcy and general dull- 
ness of the times. The political seer who thinks that 
the circulation of silver and gold, or any amount of 
money will root out the evil, cannot see as far as his 
nose. For this want of confidence and contentment 
prevails among the wealthy more than it does among 
the poorer classes. No, that which is born and bred 
into the bones and sinews of our children, will show 
itself and come out of the man, and no external 
plasters will ever eradicate this deeply seated cancer 
in our social body. The hopes of the future are al- 
ways in the proper education of our children. If we 
sow to the wind, we shall reap the whirlwind. If we 
sow the seed of contentment and satisfaction with 
humble and the more common occupations of life, we 
can look forward to the coming generations for a 
golden harvest, and happy days ; remembering al- 



.282 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

ways, that every education is worthless, that does 
not cherish home Hfe, and make our children good 
and obedient members of our households, and bind 
them to happy homes and cherished kindred, as the 
dearest and sweetest spot to them on earth." 



RETURN OF THE PERSECUTED. 

^ ;$ fS 

^^/'"^OOD morning, Jim!" ''Good morning!" 
Vj came a reply. "Is not this a drizzling, 
mizzling, dreary and rainy morning, though?" said 
Ben Wauthen, who had just come to town with a 
big load of corn. "You are all right there, Ben. It 
is very wet and rainy. But why don't you carry an 
umbrella?" said Jim Crow. "Oh, shaw; I don't want 
to be bothered with it," said Ben. "I have my hands 
full driving the team, besides they told me when I 
bought this rubber overcoat, it would keep me as 
dry as a powder horn. Now just look here, you see 
it is as wet inside as outside. So you see the water 
goes through and through." And he threw his rub- 
ber coat open for Jim to examine it. "I declare, you 
are all wet and cold, and shiver like an old plug 
horse. You better go to Frank Grail's tavern and 
warm yourself, or you'll get sick, said Jim. "Oh, I 
am going to unload my corn first, that will warm 
me up better than the fire. The fire would only make 
me feel mean and chilly. I'll see Frank anyway, for 
I sold him my corn. So come around then, and we'll 
have a talk about old times. We have not had a 
chat for some time," said Ben. "All right, I'll be 
there in an hour or two," said the other, and walked 
off, while Ben Wauthen drove his load of corn into 
the crib and began to unload. 



284 FoiiJitaiiis of Streams and Public Schools. 

Frank Grail had years ago concluded, that the 
single state of blessedness was well enough for a 
young man. who was looked after by his parents and 
friends, but when he was old enough to take care of 
himself, be obseri-ed that- old bachelors, as well as 
old maids, however young, were always considered 
old. and somehow or other he always found them a 
discontented and cranky element in the social body; 
and that bachelorhood and old maidenhood were con- 
trary to nature, and therefore not as congenial and 
happy as the wedded state. So he and Becky Wirick^ 
his old schoolmate, who loved each other dearly from 
childhood, were years ago united for life. Becky was 
the lively, industrious, witty and tidy daughter of a 
prosperous farmer, and folks who knew them both 
often remarked, that two more friendly and sociable 
companions never were joined together. They 
seemed adapted and intended for each other, and their 
whole married life moved along without a jar, as 
merry as the Christmas bells. 

Frank Grail succeeded in his father's business,. 
and was one of the first merchants of Rolling ]^Ieads. 
To satisfy the wishes of his wife and many friends. 
he purchased and became the proprietor of the first 
hotel in tlie village, which threw him and his wife 
onto the patronage of the public, and into one ot 
the finest residences in the country. ^Ir. Grail hesi- 
tated at first, not desiring to burden his wife with 
the cares and complications of such an establishment. 
Besides, he already had all he could well attend to 
in purchasing and selling grain and live stock. His 



Return of the Persecuted. 285 

friends were not deceived, however, in the business 
tact of his wife, for her friendly nature made her at 
length the favorite hostess of the village. Their hotel 
soon became renowned as a pleasant home for the 
traveling public and their friends, well arranged and 
furnished with everything which makes private life 
enjoyable. Mrs. Grail took great pains in keeping 
the house in the best order ; she was very friendly to 
her guests, and taught her servants to be accommo- 
dating. Very few were ever dissatisfied with her ar- 
rangements. In the evening, her guests were enter- 
tained with instrumental and vocal music, and many 
a pleasant and social hour they beguiled with the 
most refined and intelligent of the traveling public. 
She also won the good will of all respectable men and 
women for her honesty and consistency in her reli- 
gious principles. She did not put on her religion 
only when she went to church one day in the week, 
but wore it every day, and slept in it at night. She 
would not, like many others in stores and shops and 
public business, put down her religion on an equality 
with public patronage. They made their guests feel 
like old friends visiting old acquaintances, and they 
were always glad for the opportunity, and many made 
it a special object to stop over at the Grail home, 
as they journeyed through Rolling Meads. It was 
more frequently called the home, and so it was dis- 
tinguished from all other taverns in that section of 
the country. 

Airs. Grail was a master in the culinary depart- 
ment; for she made it her study at the female semi- 



286 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

nary which she had attended for several years, and 
in this connection she had an opportunity to study 
botany, and make herself acquainted with all her 
mother's herbs, bitters and stews, for the old hardy 
settlers regarded her mother's treatment of the sick 
better than that of all the physicians. So the home 
naturally became a kind of hospital, where many would 
go and get w^ell, and return to their friends in good 
health, and were convinced that good waiting and 
attendance on the sick, was worth more than medi- 
cine or drugs. 

The Grail family had now been living in the hotel 
for five years. One stork and a little dove had come 
to roost in the family nest for good, and no one would 
ever attempt to drive them out for anything in the 
world. They called the stork Frank, after his father, 
and the dove got its mother's name. By this time 
it w^as manifest to all that ]\Irs. Grail understood 
the management of her affairs fully as well as her 
husband did his. And upon comparing notes it was 
found that the business of the hotel was cashing them 
up more dollars and cents at the end of the year than 
Mr. Grail's mercantile pursuits, and he was seriously 
considering the matter of closing up his business in 
that line, and make room for the employment of some 
worthy and trusty friend. He opened his mind to 
Mr. Wauthen on the subject, while he was unloading 
his corn. "But," said Ben, "change of pastures don't 
always make fat calves. It depends on the pasture. 
I am doing well enough where I am, and I prefer to 
leave good enough alone. I don't like to see you 



Return of the Persecuted. 287 

go out of this business ; we have been deahng- so long 
together, and always got along well. I advise you 
to keep at it a while yet, until you find some trusty 
man acquainted with the business. Why don't you 
try some good agent? There is Jim Crow, I think 
he would fill the bill." Mr. Grail thought Ben's ad- 
vice a good one, and promised to take it into con- 
sideration. 

Mr. Firm Mind's widow and family were still 
living at the old homestead at Fountains of Streams, 
which was situated immediately in the eastern part 
of the village. A friend of Dr. Firm Mind had suc- 
ceeded him in his practice and occupied his office^ 
while Carl, Dr. Mind's oldest son, had graduated at 
a medical college in the East, and had taken up the 
practice of medicine in the same office, and his brother 
George was clerking in the drug store, and their sis- 
ter was attending the high school at Rolling Meads 
with her little associates of other days, who often 
played and romped with Lillian in her room. They 
were now all grown up young ladies, preparing for 
their graduation in the schools. The old room and 
Lillian were now seldom thought of, and were only 
mentioned in sorrow, as things of the past. They 
knew she had gone away to the big city, and never 
expected to see her again. The busy realities of life 
so absorb our attention, they draw us along with the 
current of time that rolls onward hke a rushing river, 
and former events and scenes become to us like airy 
fancies or forgotten dreams. 

The parochial school teacher and supermtendent, 



288 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

Mr. Fleming, like the Vicar of Wakefield, "was of 
opinion, that the honest man who married and 
brought up a large family, did more service than he 
who continued single and only talked of population." 
However, it seems he chose a better wife than the 
Vicar did, for her ''contrivances" brought money into 
Mr. Fleming's purse, and chickens and dumplings 
into his pot. It was a very fortunate thing all round, 
that he won the affections of ]\Iiss Emma Grail, with 
whom he became acquainted in the schools, where 
she had taught for many years. She now had other 
fish to fry in her household duties. Besides, she had 
a millinery store of her own, in connection with her 
residence on Main street. 

''I was just telling Frank," said Ben Wauthen 
in the private office at the hotel after unloading his 
corn, ''that may be you would act as his agent, or 
buy him out, and run the business on your own 
hook?" This was spoken to Jim Crow, who came 
as he had promised, to have a little talk with Ben 
about old times. "I came here Ben," said he, "to 
talk about old times, and here you begin right away 
about new times, as though I was married and hunt- 
ing a place for a family roost." "Well now, Jim, 
I wish you were married. You are of age and have 
as good a right to set up your own shanty as any 
body else," said Ben. "Sure," said Frank, "you can 
attend to the business for me a while, and see how 
you like it. You are not so throng just now, but 
what you could undertake it." "It is an easy matter 
to undertake, most amthing," said Jim, "but to carry 



Return of the Persecuted. 289 

it through, is a horse of another color. Yet, I'll fill 
your place a month or two, if you say so." 'There 
now," said Ben, "you might as well let the whole 
cat out of the bag, Jim, and make an end of your long 
courtship. Ask Katie what she thinks about it, and 
we'll give you a lift. You two, you and Frank here, 
would better close your bargain at once." "Well, 
I consider it closed. Mr. Crow will begin work next 
week," said Frank. "All right," was Mr. Crow's 
reply. 

Ben Wauthen and Jim Crow now had a long talk 
about the time they once had in Pittsburg with the 
cowboy detective, and the conversation finally turned 
with much interest to that little girl, on whose testi- 
mony the murderer was convicted and executed. One 
asked the other what was the last news about her 
since she went away. "For about eight years no one 
has hear a word about her. I kept track of her up 
to that time, when she complained about her treat- 
ment, and was no longer allowed to correspond with 
her friends at this place," said Ben. "Don't you 
know, Ben," said Jim, "that I always believed that 
old fellow was an old fraud, and was not related to 
her at all? For how could he abuse her as he did, 
and treat her so, if he was a relative looking up her 
welfare ? Now I warrant he spent all her money, 
and she is working oht to earn her living in the big 
city. Say, Ben, suppose we take a ride down there 
sometime and hunt her up? We'll get to see the 
town any way. What do you say?" "Well, I 
would not mind seeing the town, but I think it would 



290 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

be a difficult matter to find her; besides, she is now 
old enough to manage her own boat, and she might 
give us the cold shoulder. I will be too busy with 
my work for some time. I must market my grain, 
and spring work is pressing, so I cannot promise to 
go for a month or two," said Ben, and continued: 
''Allow me, Jim, to give you a little advice ; you get 
married and go down there on your wedding trip, 
that would be better yet." *'I guess," said Jim, "I 
will have to turn in and get married one of these 
days, just to stop you from talking about it. It ap- 
pears you have more to say on that subject than I 
have myself. But you can never make me believe 
that Lillian Morven would not be glad to see us, and 
hear some news about her old friends. It would be 
unnatural for her not to be glad to hear from her old 
home, where her precious dead lie buried. It is just 
a wonder to me, that she can stay away so long." 

They now agreed to take a stroll through the 
town together, for the rain had ceased and the sun 
was shining, and the air now felt so nice and warm. 
The glorious sun appeared above the clouds like a 
king in his strength. The battles of spring fought 
every year over our heads in the clouds and the sky, 
between cold and heat, summer and winter, for the 
supremacy of the throne in the upper regions, was at 
its height, and the thundering cannonading of thick 
black and serried hosts of grim set artillery, and the 
fusilading of light flying cavalry and Infantrv across 
the fields of heaven, were speedily deciding the con- 
quest in favor of the fair Queen of Spring. How beau- 



Return of the Persecuted. 291 

tifully bright, fresh and exhilerating the warm sun 
shone over the distant clouds of rumbHng thunder, 
which were chasing king winter's army, with his flee- 
ing artillery, over the bridge across the river to their 
own country, while the sun was laughing and greet- 
ing his bride of the spring, and was leading her forth 
to set her on the throne. 

The men were impressed with the scene around 
them, and ever and anon their thoughts turned back 
in their conversation to former years, and Lillian. 
They spoke of the improvements of the country and 
village in all these years. The forests had been mostly 
cleared away ; so that, instead of seeing but one or 
two houses in any neighborhood round about, the 
eye would now carry you for miles around the hori- 
zon, and persent to your view a beautiful landscape,, 
dotted with beautiful and stately homes of thrifty and 
prosperous farmers. The good, straight roads that 
led into the village from every direction, were no 
longer the crooked things of ten years ago, full of 
chuck-holes and rotten culverts. And they wondered 
whether a person would recognize the village and 
surrounding country, if he should accidentally lose 
his way and drive into it, not having seen it for the 
last ten years. 

While their minds were thus stirred up by the 
recollections of the past, they agreed to ferret out all 
that could be known of the whereabouts of Lillian 
Morven, on whose account the entire village and 
neighboring country were so much excited and in- 
terested many years ago. They remembered, that 



292 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

the last one in the village to see her, was Emma 
Fleming. So they immediately went to see her. But 
Mrs. Fleming could not satisfy their curiosity. All 
she knew every one else knew; that she had corre- 
spondence with her a while, and that her guardian 
ordered all correspondence with her former friends 
at RolHng Meads discontinued, and the talk was that 
she had ill-usage, and that her inheritance was in a 
very precarious condition. How she fared, or what 
had become of her since then, was a mystery to all 
her friends in the village. 

''\\'ell, it is not going to be a mystery much 
longer ; for Jim and I are going to solve it in two 
or three months. We are going to Cincinnati and 
look her up, like we did that murderer in Pittsburg," 
said Ben Wauthen. "I fear," said Mrs. Fleming, 
''the trail has grown too cold in the last eight years, 
and you will find it a very difhcult matter to learn 
anything about her, as those interested in her estate 
have no doubt secreted her away from all inquiring 
friends. But how happy we would all be just to see 
her once again, and find her in good health and cir- 
cumstances. Dear knows what poor human nature 
has brought her to by this time, and she may be in 
a condition in which it would be better for us all 
to leave it as it is, and never to see her again, espe- 
cially, if they have kept her from school, and made 
her work out among the low classes in the city." 
"Just for that very reason," said Jim Crow, "we 
should have kept track of her and looked after her 
long ago. I think we all neglected our duty, for I 



Return of the Persecuted. 293 

always did believe that grand uncle of hers, was noth- 
ing- but a grand fraud. It looks to me as if the 
judge here entered into a conspiracy with him to 
gobble up her money. It ought to be looked into, 
and I cannot rest until it is investigated, and until I 
know that justice was done." "Yes," said Mrs. Flem- 
ing, ''I heard such talk nearly every year, but no one 
has gone to see after her yet." ''But it is going 
through this time," said Jim. 

At this they departed, with the full set determi- 
nation to carry out their intentions in the near future. 

May had already been dancing on the hills and 
scattering her blossoms through the valleys for a 
week or two, and time's chariot was hastening onward 
unobserved by the busy toilers in life's urgent duties. 
Ere they were aware of it, the wheels of gallant June 
had taken full possession of the track, chasing May 
to the clouds, for she had altogether gone up with 
the smoke of her fog and her dews, emptying all her 
blooming children into the lap of June. There they 
stood, on hill and in dale, blushing and laughing, at 
what I cannot tell, unless at the birds' wedding day, 
who were choosing their mates and celebrating the 
time with all the music their little throats could war- 
ble forth. How time flies, when the whole world is 
busy, a^nd all creatures are doing their utmost to meet 
the demands of the new life, quivering in ecstacy 
over every dale and rosy landscape, over the woods 
and every blooming tree ! 

The last day of June had come, and with it as 
usual, and at the appointed hour, the express crawled 



29-1: Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

bke a long snail slowly into the depot at Rolling 
Meads, with its precious load of thousands of human 
beings, chiefly destined for Pittsburg or Philadelphia. 
A great many also alighted at Rolling Meads, for 
this village generally had more than its share of vis- 
itors. Among those who alighted from the train at 
the depot was a lady with a grip and check for two 
large trunks. She at once drew the attention of every 
one upon her person, and they followed her with their 
eyes as though they could never satisfy their aston- 
ished vision; like a wonder she held them entranced 
as they gazed. 

Had she not been a total stranger, all hands 
would have been at her service. How wonderful this 
is,- that now and then we meet with persons that 
draw all beholders after them. It reminds us of the 
home feeling of the heart, that used to draw us around 
our mother's neck. We feel as though we were ap- 
proaching a higher order of being, sent for our pro- 
tection and defense, and to make us cheerful and 
most exceeding glad. The hearts of all grew warm 
towards her, as she looked around as desirous to 
meet some friend, and none seemed to be near. She 
evidently was alone. She then took the cab for the 
Grail Hotel, as that name seemed to have a familiar 
ring in her ears, like the chimes of sweet sounding 
bells from a distant city, coming to you over the 
waters of long ago. 

The reader will not be surprised to learn that 
this extraordinary personage was no one else but 
Lillian Morven. Her school davs were over, and 



Return of the Persecuted. 295 

like one who had culled the choicest flowers of the 
garden, she no longer had any use for the big city, 
and was glad to return and cast her lot in a purer 
society, blessed with the most hallowed memories. 
She had graduated with first honors in the highest 
schools, as well as in the musical institute. She was 
offered a position as professor in the schools, or in 
music, for which she was very thankful ; but nothing 
could induce her to stay in a city where she endured 
the bitterest cruelty, and she longed to be at home 
surrounded with true friends and the dear associates 
of her childhood days. Through all the years of toil 
and trouble, and through all her studies and pursuits 
after knowledge, she never once forgot daily to mix 
in the precious lessons of her mother's little book, 
which was to her as a bright and cheerful star in 
the dark night that overhung the skies of her soul. 
What the light-house is to the mariner, the north 
star to the compass, so was her mother's little book 
to Lillian. It served to consecrate her strong natural 
powers, her lively temperament, sound judgment and 
good sense, with the halo of a winning, cheerful be- 
havior ; a modest, humble disposition ; crowned with 
a noble mien, an honest, open and impressive coun- 
tenance ; so that she attracted the notice and com- 
manded more than comimon respect among strangers, 
their service and good will. 

She stepped into the cab, and gave her checks 
for her trunks to the driver. She resolved not to 
make herself known in public immediately, but first 
to learn how and where her friends were situated. 



296 Foiintaijis of Streams and Public Schools. 

^Moreover, she desired to ascertain whether any of 
her friends would recognize her. She was not over- 
grown, but large. Her beautiful form was set com- 
pactly together, as in the most perfect Grecian mould. 
At the hotel, Frank Grail assisted her from the cab, 
and led her into the ladies' room, and brought off 
her trunks. As usual with his guests who were utter 
strangers to him, he made no inquiry about her iden- 
tity, yet in this case he could not suppress a rising 
concern and curiosity within himself, as to who the 
stranger might be, who carried with her a vision 
angels would delight to behold. As, however, it was 
no concern of his, he dismissed it from his mind, for 
it was no more possible for him to tell who it was, 
than if she had been the first woman in the world, 
just escaped from paradise. And if any one would 
have even mentioned the name of Lillian ^lorven as 
connected with such a personage, he would have 
laughed outright, for he had become accustomed 
with the rest of her friends to associate her name 
with rags, poverty and cruelty, and would rather ex- 
pect to find her among the cinderellas and outcasts 
of the city. 

It is certainly wonderful, that the human mind 
refuses to give any credit for passing years in the 
recognition of old-time friends. When we think of 
tnose we have not seen for many years, it is strange 
that we always see them in our minds as they looked 
when we last saw them, and the mind revolts against 
having them look any other way, and stoutly refuses 
to acknowledge a countenance out of all proportion to 



Return of the Persecuted. 297 

the familiar object we have carried with us through 
all the years, and embalmed in the cherished dreams 
of our hearts. When we think of those who left us, 
recollection always calls up the very spot where we 
saw them last, the last words that were spoken still 
ring familiar to our ears, and all the circumstances 
of that last separation seem minutely impressed with 
indelible characters on our memory. And when we 
do meet with old friends and scenes so entirely 
changed from the dear associations of the long ago, 
we feel deceived and cheated, defrauded out of our 
sweetest delight, only once again to see them, as we 
were wont to see them, in life's morning March when 
her days were young. 

She enjoyed the kindnesses of her host and host- 
ess, and thought from the first she ought to recog- 
nize them, but was not able immediately to place them. 
Nevertheless, by their further conversation about their 
afifairs, she was not long in assuring herself that her 
first impressions were right. Jim Crow she recog- 
nized at once, as he came in to the supper table, and 
joined in the lively chat about the fine weather and 
secular affairs. She was to them an utter stranger. 
They knew she had just arrived from Cicinnati, but 
that was a common occurrence for strangers and trav- 
eling agents of both sexes, to stop there in pursuit of 
their occupations. Of course, at the mention of Cin- 
cinnati, they could not avoid thinking of Lillian. Ana 
as Jim Crow's curiosity had impelled him on former 
occasions to inquire of strangers from the city about 
the lost girl, and was so non-plussed and dumbfounded 



.298 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

by their vague and droll remarks, that he only made 
himself the laughing-stock of his hearers, had lost all 
-courage to make any more such inquiries. Lillian 
now had a great advantage over her friends, but it was 
the hardest task imaginable, for her exuberant nature 
to guard herself from bursting forth at the mention 
of the familiar names and places of her childhood. 
She did not dare to make any inquiries, for fear of 
being compelled to answer inquiries in turn, which 
would have exposed her identity, which she desired 
ior the present to conceal. And this very conceal- 
ment gave her a peculiar self-satisfaction in looking 
forward to the good time coming, when she would be- 
come known to them, by evidences they could not dis- 
pute. She soon became master of her emotions, and 
in the role of a stranger made many inquiries about 
the village, and the names of those in the leading pro- 
fessions and trades. For this was the usual habit of 
traveling agents, and she was aware that they regarded 
her as one of this class. 

In the evening, when the guests assembled in the 
parlor to enjoy the music as usual, they politely asked 
her if she could sing and play the instrument, and 
whether she loved music She replied that she loved 
music very much, and could sing and play a few pieces, 
but preferred to hear their music first, as that no doubt 
would be new to her. AMien they found out she could 
play, their playing and singing were not as free as usual, 
and they were anxious to hear the accomplished lady, 
from whom they expected to hear something good at 
least. \Mien she had played and sung but one piece. 



Return of the Persecuted. 299 

they were filled with wonder and surprise, and re- 
marked that they never heard such music, and they 
called upon her time and again, and time and again 
she delighted them with music they never heard before. 
^She tried to satisfy their continued and urgent requests 
until a late hour, when she excused herself as being 
weary; and expressed to her hostess her wish to retire. 

She slept that night the sleep of the just, with 
sweet thoughts of friends and home. The next morn- 
ing she arose refreshed and invigorated, and cheerful 
as the little children of the olden time that filled her 
thoughts and dreams. After breakfast she announced 
it was her purpose to remain in the village a few days, 
and asked whether it would be acceptable if she would 
make her home there during her stay? "Certainly, 
madam," said Frank Grail, ''we would be very glad 
to have you stay all summer." "Well," said Lillian, 
'"I thank you for the compliment, but cannot promise 
to stay that long, so can not prove myself worthy 
of it." 

She was now walking through the village, visiting 
some of the business places, but resolved in her mind 
to visit the grave that day. When she was gone, the 
members of the family at the hotel could be heard to 
say to each other : "What an exquisite voice !" said one. 
"How well she can play !" said another. "And how 
beautiful, common and nice she is with all her learn- 
ing!" said Mrs. Grail. "A very beautiful girl," said Jim 
Crow. They all agreed to call her the Beautiful ; and 
the name was not inapplicable to her person, for she 



300 - Fountains of Streanis and Public Schools. 

was par excellence the queen of maiden beauty and 
loveliness. 

As she had the whole day before her, and had ac- 
quired a sufficient knowledge of the village at the 
hotel, and was thus able to locate the dwellings of 
those friends who would be most likely of all others to 
recognize her, her purpose was to avoid them for the 
present, and went strolling through the village, and 
made a large circuit to reach the cemetery. There^ 
away out upon the hill, the highest elevation within 
the bounds of the horizon, she could look over Foun- 
tains of Streams and Rolling ]\Ieads to the west, and 
the cemetery immediately on its eastern slope. She 
took in the grand panorama like one entranced, she 
beheld the velvet covered rolling hills bereft of their 
groves, away to the east. There, in the distance far 
away, she could still see the old familiar hemlocks, 
standing there like old time sentinels of the huge tow- 
ering and wooded hilltops, looming up over the awful 
gorge with its sad memories, away over there ! Once 
a cabin stood there, and she wondered whether it was 
there still ! After familiarizing herself with the scene 
round about her, she pursued her silent and lonely 
way through the city of the dead, and was astonish- 
ingly impressed with the sorrowful fact, that one 
decade of years was sufihcient to cover such an ex- 
tensive plot of ground so thickly with marble monu- 
ments, the white watch-towers and guardians over the 
quiet sleepers under ground. 

Arrived at the graves of her treasures, she bowed 
her head upon her folded arms on the monument in se- 



Return of the Persecuted. 301 

cret prayer. She wept, as she hoped soon to see them all 
in a better world. She read the inscriptions and ob- 
served that the graves were kept in very good con- 
dition. She sat down there and composed these 
verses as reminders of this visit, the first after ten 
long years : 

A solemn stillness here prevails, 
Devotion's incense here regales, 

And vigils silence keep. 
That little brook that leaps along, 
In awe now wafts its babbling song; 

How soft its waters creep. 

There on its banks the cricket's trill, 
And swarming flies and birds are still ; 

The sky is all serene. 
The busy noise of man is mute. 
And hushed the wild note of the flute. 

And peace pervades the scene. 

As various flowering plants were blooming on 
the graves, she gathered a bouquet and walked slowly 
and sadly away in deep thought. She saw the beauti- 
ful flowers all about her ; she heard the birds over the 
valley in the green bushes, the sun was shining, but her 
heart felt sad and lonely as she walked up to the top 
of the hill. Here in a bower she sat down in the 
shade, communing with her own thoughts. "Here," 
said she to herself, ''is the end of all human greatness 
and folly. All the dreams of worldly ambition and 
renown, of wealth and poverty, of human frailty and 
wickedness alike, all terminate in this dread abode. 
What is all labor here below but vanity, for the end is 



302 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

dust and mouldering clay. What benefit has man of 
all his work, in the grave ? His grandest works of the 
chisel and the pen can not last forever, they are as 
perishable as the hands that made them. Here all 
men rest from their earthly labors, and their works 
follow them, but to the grave. Surely, here the weary 
are at rest, and the wicked cease from troubling. And 
what benefits do the good bestow upon the dead? 
Who can help them ? If a man die, shall he live again ? 
Yea, saith the Spirit ; there is another rest beyond the 
grave that remaineth for the people of God. Blessed 
are the dead that die in the Lord, they enter into the 
rest of His people, and the works the Lord did by them 
shall follow and bless them there." 

Turning now to herself and her present situation, 
she thought of her loneliness, separated from all the 
world, and as yet from those she so tenderly loved. A 
nervous sensation and anxiety came over her ; she felt 
such a bitterness of heart she never experienced be- 
fore. Lost and forsaken, forlorn and friendless, she 
burst out in sobs and tears, and wept there a good 
while by herself. 

All of a sudden she arose, brushed the tears from 
her eyes and hastily walked toward the village. It was 
now about lo o'clock, and she resolved within herself 
to call on Mother Mind immediately, and see whether 
she would recognize her, as she thought the children 
would all likely be away from home at that hour, and 
if she could, would also visit Mrs. Fleming yet before 
noon. She considered how she would approach 
mother Mind if she found her alone. As she knocked 



Return of the Persecuted. 303- 

at her door, and Mrs. Mind opened, Lillian inquired, 
although she at once recognized the person who stood 
before her: "Is mother Mind in?" "I suppose I am 
the person you are inquiring after," said Mrs. Mind. 
''Well mama, how do you do?" said Lillian reaching^ 
out her hand. Mrs. Mind reluctantly gave her hand, 
and remarked : ''Why, I don't know who you are !" 
"Why mama," replied Lilhan, "can you not recognize 
me, your own little girl?" and laughed in her old 
familiar way, as she removed her hat. "Is it possible," 
said Mrs. Mind after closely observing her, "that this 
is my Lilhan?" "It is no one else mother," said Lil- 
lian, and now they were in each other's arms, and both 
wept and sobbed for some time. "Well now," said 
mother Mind, "my children will soon be at home, and 
you must stay for dinnner with us. I want a long talk 
with you." "I thank you very much, and would be 
glad to do so, but they are expecting me at the Grail 
tavern for dinner, and I want to call on Mrs. Fleming 
first. I came to stay at Rolling Meads, mama, so we 
will see each other often, and talk of other days."" 
"Oh Lillian, come and live with me, and be my girl 
again !" said mother Mind. "We'll talk about that 
mama, when I come back this afternoon. So a kiss 
and good bye till then," said Lillian, as she kissed and 
hugged her, and then flung herself out of doors. "Just 
like her," said the old lady, as she was now suddenly 
left to herself, "it is her very self, oh how glad I am \ 
how glad I am !" She was so excited she did not 
know what to do next. "Now," said she at length to 
herself, "I'll have some news to surprise my children. 



S04 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

Won't they have a good time guessing who was here ?" 
She had no rest, and went right to work to prepare 
dinner, and the children were aU surprised to see it 
waiting for them when they came home. "'Well,'" said 
Mrs. ]\Iind, "you cannot guess who was here a few 
hours ago." "Oh,' said her daughter, "it was nobody 
but uncle John." "Xo indeed. Guess again,'' said ^Irs. 
^lind. "AA'ell," said Carl, "was it a man or woman?'' 
''Oh now, you want me to tell you. That is not guess- 
ing. But I guess I'll have to help you or you'll never 
guess. It was a woman," said she. "Oh, it was ^Irs. 
Grail," said her daughter, but her mother shook her 
head. "Is she a relative of ours?" asked George. She 
shook her head and laughed. "Well," said Carl, "when 
did we see her last?" "Xot for many a year, my 
darlings," said the mother." "I wonder who in the 



world it could be ? Does she live around here ? " 
asked the daughter. Her mother shook her head 
again. "Xow," said Carl, "I am ready to guess. I 
say it is Lillian ]^Iorven." said Carl. "That's just who 
it was," said the mother : and then her daughter in- 
quired : "^^'as she dirty? did she look seedy?" "X'o, 
she is the finest girl I ever saw," said ^Irs. ^lind. 
Then came one question after the other, thick as grass- 
hoppers in harvest: "When did she arrive? Where 
did she go ? Is she coming back ? ^^llen can I see 
her?" and the clapping of hands, and great rejoicing 
that the lost was found so unexpectedly and so glori- 
ously, they could scarcely believe the report. Their 
hearts were so full that little dinner did thev eat that 



Return of the Persecuted. 305 

day ; and the daughter resolved to stay at home from 
school to wait for her in the afternoon. 

Lillian had but a few steps to Mrs. Fleming's door. 
When it was opened and Mrs. Fleming saw her, she 
startled and watched her every move more closely, and 
wildly stared at her as she walked in. When Mrs. 
Fleming closed the door and told her to be seated, her 
brows were knit with a painful anxiety, and the wild 
stare still showed the exertions of her mind to recog- 
nize some old friend in this stranger. When Lillian 
was seated, and at the request of Mrs. Fleming was 
removing her hat, Mrs. Fleming threw up her hands 
and exclaimed: ''Oh heavens, Lillian, is it you, and 
have you come at last," and rushed into her arms. 
It was a great comfort to Lillian to know that her old 
friend was able to recognize her after so long a time. 
After a short conversation about this and that, cutting 
off her call and promising soon to return, she hastened 
to the hotel. She learned of Mrs. Fleming of the in- 
tended search that Ben Wauthen and Jim Crow were 
going to make in a few days, and was told to post 
them on her first opportunity, before they left, so 
they would know where to find her. So at the dinner 
table at the hotel, she led the conversation to the sub- 
ject, and Jim Crow asked her if she knew such a lady 
in Cincinnati by the name of Lillian Morven ? ''Why 
yes," was the answer, "we went to the same school 
together." "Well, when are you going back, we want 
you to take us where we can find her?" said Jim. 
^'Well,' said LiUian, "I can do that now. I can show 
you her picture, for I have it with me, and so if you 



306 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

go with me, I will show you Lillian ]\Iorven herself." 
"All right," said he, and arose from his seat saying: 
"Go ahead, I'll follow." 

Then Lillian took him by the hand and led him 
into the parlor, while all the remaining guests fol- 
lowed. She led him up to the large mirror and asked 
him the question, whether he did not see a girl in 
the mirror. 

''I see your picture there," said he. 

''Well, that is the picture of Lillian ^lorven 
herself. Xow, I suppose you can find her," said 
Lillian. 

Then all hands went up, and the loudest laugh 
of all laughs that ever was laughed in the halls of 
Grail, shook the building from top to foundation. 
There was no end to the merriment ; it seemed as 
though bedlam was turned loose all at once in the 
usual quiet home of Air. Grail, and Lillian was the 
master of ceremonies. The whole family, ]Mr. and 
'Mrs. Grail, joined in the jubilee, and all acted as 
though they were half crazy with laughter and joy. 
It even attracted the neighbors, who came running 
in to find out what was the racket. The news flew 
through the town like wildfire. Little Jim Crow 
rolled up his eyes and combed his fingers through 
his hair, and felt so out of place he knew not what to 
say or do next, while the rest were all shaking hands 
and laughing at his expense, and he appeared to 
enjoy the situation as well as the best of them, and 
claimed the honorable distinction of having found 
the lost girl. Tt was a very happy surprise. 



Return of the Persecuted. 307 

If ever gladness came to smile and bless human 
souls in a world of sin, it was when Lillian Morven 
made herself known to the long, dreary and wavering 
hope of her friends in Rolling Meads, and lifted the 
cloud that pressed so drearily upon their thoughts, 
when they remembered with gloom and sadness the 
old days, and were so fearful for the fate of one they 
all so dearly loved. Her friends were now all as 
busy as glad hearts could make them, and were se- 
cretly considering plans for a welcome reception and 
surprise for Lillian, in which the whole church and 
school were to engage. This was to be held in the 
large school auditorium, on the evening of the next 
day, which would be Saturday. It was to be kept 
secret from Lillian, but she was not slow in finding 
out what the stir was about, and bethought herself 
of some preparation. As the time was so very short,, 
she concluded to compose a poem and the music for 
it, and sing and play it on the occasion, as they no 
doubt would expect something of her in return to 
their welcome. But how could she accomplish it 
under the present excitement and the rush and con- 
versation of friends, that left her not one moment 
to herself. So she concluded to snatch a few hours 
from the night, and finish next day. She made a 
fnv calls that afternoon, and was up with her friends 
to a very late hour, until they saw they were robbing 
her of much needed rest. As she retired, her poem 
and music occupied her mind, and thus she sung 
herself to sleep. She knew by the preparations that 
were going on about her, that there would be a pro- 



308 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

fusion of flowers on the occasion, so she composed a 
poem on flowers, in the same meter she used at the 
grave. The next morning very early she took her 
pencil and wrote out the following poem : 

Ye fragrant fiow'rs that deck the vale, 
That bow adorers of the gale. 

Upraise your golden stems ! 
Lift up your heads, your glories wake, 
Your coral lips fresh odors take. 

And top j-our liquid gems! 

Ye ruddy cheeks inlaid with pearl. 

And laughing out through many a curl, 

Sweet tenants of the shade I 
In th}' delights still let me rove, 
' Endearing llow'rets of the grove. 

And th}- bright realms invade! 

Ye daisies neat and pinks so sweet. 
That wreath around the lawn complete, 

x\nd stud its velvet sod ; 
Ye friends of Spring, companions all. 
Adorning here, let me recall, 

Thy ]^Iaker and my God. 

\Miile roses blow as white as snow, 
And verdant vales their gifts bestow, 

Upon their altars true; 
While nature thus its God adores. 
With all its wealth and grace implores, 

I'll join the chorus, too. 

Since loving hearts within us burn. 
And flow'rs and friends to me return, 

I'll join the chorus, too. 
Secure from winter's cruel blast, 
Maj' love and sunshine ever last, 

And all our heavens be blue. 



Return of the Persecuted, 309 

If winds do kiss where bees do feed, 
Where honi'd sweets load down the mead, 

And waft them through the glade ; 
What blissful winds with loaded store. 
Shall waft us to that golden shore, 

Where no enjoyments fade? 

'Behold the lilies how they grow,' 

Said Christ, that we might learn to know, 

God's ever watchful care. 
'They toil not, neither do they spin,' 
Yet grander robes than human kin, 

Or kings the lilies wear. 

. Then plant the cross array'd in flow'rs, 
'Mid beds of green and June day bow'rs. 

And Rose of Sharon crown 1 
The lilies of the valley twine. 
In borders with the eglantine, 

Where thorns and briers frown. 

The flow'rs uprear their hands to praise, 
Their bosoms swell with silent lays, 

With worship's awe o'erspread! 
Then let the wond'ring hosts look down. 
While here devotion's vows I crown. 

To my exalted Head. 

Praise ye the Lord, for He is good, 
His mercy ever near me stood, 

When all seemed lost and gone. 
He led me through a sea of blood. 
And washed me in that sacred flood, ' 

To sing around His throne." 

It would be hard to tell whether joy or sorrow 
prevailed most in the audience during this exercise. 
One thing is certain, the floodgates of sympathetic 
feeling were burst wide open by the gushing fountains 



310 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

of kindred and social feelings, sanctified by love di- 
vine, and the tears fell like rain. I cannot account 
for it any way, but to say that the fountains of sorrow 
long pent up, sweetened by the foretastes of heavenly 
joys, gushed forth by the tenderest affections and 
sympathies that ever obtained a harbor in the human 
breast. Even the hardest hearts could not restrain 
their tears, like the brethren of Joseph were overawed 
and overwhelmed bv the loving kindness of his sanc- 
tifiea heart. 

What can be more pathetic than the meeting of 
true Christian friends, children of a smiling and doting 
Father's house, separated by long intervening years 
of cruel oblivion ? What can be more tender and joy- 
ful, than to meet after many years, a cherished friend 
and playmate of our childhood sports, when we know 
that our cherished friend had gone through the fire 
of persecution, and been made to feel the harrowing 
pangs of the deepest sorrow and wretchedness ? Such 
a happy meeting surrounds us with blessed memo- 
ries, and we look again into those familiar eyes, that 
burned with so many thrills of rapture in the days 
ot long ago. And we see her, who has gone through 
the most dreadful ordeals that envy and hatred could 
invent for the oppression of acknowledged innocence 
and kindness, which by the love of her mother's Bi- 
ble only purified her soul by patient suffering through 
the long and sweetest years of childhood and youth, 
to endure the fires of human pride and tyranny. Yet 
she conies forth out of all, as a victorious spirit un- 
harmed and unscathed. Xo blot, in spite of all hu- 



Return of the Persecuted. 311 

man cruelty heaped upon her by the pubHc schools 
and their votaries, clung to her sanctified character. 

How powerful are the emotions of the human 
soul, when stirred to their depths ? There is nothing 
but a divine power that can subdue and control these 
troubled waters. Therefore men cannot be governed 
without God. How much better is it to have these 
emotions sanctified by the virtues of kindred sympa- 
thies and affections, held together by the bond of 
perfection and an endless life, than by the false views 
of life instilled into the minds of children in our pub- 
lic schools ? These false views of honor stifle and 
subdue all kindred emotions, and give over the mind 
to the absolute control of depraved sensations, until 
the heart becomes cold to every tender feeling, to 
pursue unflinchingly the schemes of human pride and 
jealousy, right or wrong. Like King Saul thereby 
lost all his manfulness and, like a raging beast, pur- 
sued the life of David and Jonathan. 

As the conscience is the seat of our affections and 
emotions, their conscience becomes hardened, the 
tenderest feeling is ignored as cowardice. The heart 
can no more be softened by the tenderest cries. All 
the music of Tempe's vale can never move or set 
those strings into vibration. They are shriveled and 
dead. This enables the criminal to carry out his se- 
cret designs. 

"The man who hath no music (emotion) in himself, 
And is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 
Is fit for treason, strategems, and spoils." 

— Shakespeare. 



312 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

They had by this time sufficient opportunity to 
learn that LilHan was in every respect worthy of the 
honor and sympathy they so kindly bestowed upon 
her. She walked among them like a beloved queen, 
the cynosure of all eyes. She bore her honors with 
becoming modesty. Her grace was natural and un- 
assumed, and reflected the virtues of true humility, 
as though they were not her own, but the property 
of her friends, to whose happiness she was entirely 
devoted. It is the mind truly educated, stored with 
information and a deep knowledge of the human na- 
ture, and balanced by the grace of God's good Spirit, 
that makes the body rich, a temple of shining virtues, 
attractive and sweet, like a beautiful and fragrant 
flower. Such a bodily form is as immortal as the 
human spirit. It may throw off its earthly material 
and sleep amidst the dust, but will arise in the beauty 
of a heavenly essence, with all its powers for happi- 
ness enlarged, to embrace the pleasures that are un- 
defiled and pass not away. 

As Lillian's most intimate friends were gathered 
together in the evening of the same day at the old 
homestead of mother Mind to spend a social hour. 
Mrs. Fleming asked Lillian : 

''Why in the world did you not write to us, 
after you became so far master of your own affairs?'* 

''It would have been the greatest pleasure to me 
indeed, to have done so," she replied, "but I feared 
it might stir up old troubles. You know my gaiard- 
ian forbade it. Besides, I was kept very close and 
busy as it was, and had really no time to correspond 



Return of the Persecuted. 318- 

as I would like, and while I always had the determi- 
nation to come back home as soon as I could safely 
do so, I thought that would be so much better than 
all the letters I could write. A correspondence un- 
der the circumstances might also have prevented me 
from finishing my studies one way or the other, or 
might have destroyed the prospects of ever seeing 
Fountains of Streams again. So, I determined it was 
best to abide my time and stick to my resolution." 

"Oh, Lillian," said Mrs. Fleming in tears, ''how 
we were worried, and how sad we all felt for you." 

"I thought of that too, but I thought it would 
be much easier for my friends to worry, than for me 
to be robbed of all their sympathy, and to tread the 
wine-press alone," said Lillian with tears. 

''Oh, the inhumanity of man to man," began 
Uncle John Mind, and continued : "We must change 
the subject. It was not our intention this evening 
to awaken sorrowful feelings, but to enjoy an hour 
of cheerful conversation. What I now desire and am 
anxious to learn is, what are your intentions for the 
future, Lillian? Excuse my impertinence. I would 
be glad to help you in anything you wish to under- 
take for your welfare, and I know your friends here 
are all of the same opinion." 

"Oh, Uncle John," said she, "you are very kind,, 
and I do heartily thank you for your kind offer. I 
fear I will now need your assistance more than any 
of. my many kind friends. You know the condition, 
of the Morven estate, and I want it collected and set- 
tled as soon as possible. Mr. Baker is no longer 



■314 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

judge, and he and Mr. Winegardner are security, 
and have given mortgage notes for it all, and it has 
now been on interest at six per cent, for thirteen 
years. The mortgage is recorded, but a copy and 
the notes are in the hands of my cousin, who was ad- 
ministrator of his father's estate. I asked him for 
them before I left, and he replied, he wanted to make 
liimself safe, and would fix it up at the 'squire's ofHce 
there, and send me all those papers afterwards. Of 
course Mr. Baker has receipts for all the money I 
got of him to defray my expenses and education." 

"Very well, Lilly," said Uncle John, who was one 
of the best lawyers in the whole country, "I will in- 
stitute proceedings to-morrow, and I am very cer- 
tain you shall have your money with interest in a 
very short time, for those men are well to do, and 
I am sure, if your claims are once fairly and earn- 
estly presented, they will be glad to settle and get 
it off of their hands as soon as possible. The estate 
with interest will amount to about eleven thousand 
dollars. Now, may I ask, what are you going to 
do with so much money?" 

"I will buy me a home, about two hundred acres 
of good land, close to Rolling ]\Ieads, as my father 
had mtended to do, and the rest I will put on interest, 
and use it as I need it, or purchase some property 
in town to give myself employment here," said Lillian. 

"Why, the way you talk, you would make a 
pretty good lawyer yourself. If I was a young man, 
I would be glad for the chance to take you in as a 
partner. But I suppose you are already engaged 



Return of the Persecuted. 315 

to practice a little law with somebody else," said Uu- 
cle John. 

''Thank you very much, Uncle John, for your 
good opinion, said Lillian, ''I only wish I were en- 
gaged. Don't you know some good, handsome 
young man you could recommend?" 

"No, you'll have to excuse me for that. I would 
rather recommend you to the best young man in 
America, if it were necessary. But it is not necessary. 
A bird like you is bound to find its mate to match in 
due time. 

"In due time. Uncle John," she replied, "and then 
I hope I'll have a nice, strong cage to put him in, 
and I'll lock him up so fast, he'll never get out again, 
and I'll feed him the sweetest little crumbs, and talk 
to him, and make him sing to me every day." 



THE PROPER METHOD AND AIM OF TRUE 
EDUCATION. 

^ ^ ^ 

THE school exhibitions at Fountains of Streams 
generally had a festive character; and the one 
held shortly after Lillian's return, possessed this char- 
acteristic in an eminent degree. Even the subjects of 
discussion were chosen and seemingly arranged with 
this end in A'iew. ^lany of the old teachers and mas- 
ters, whose labors advanced the schools, and gave 
them a particular trend in the direction of sound prin- 
ciples of an intelligent Christian life, offered themselves 
to join in making this a jubilee of classic effort, to de- 
note a period in the advancement of the schools. The 
subjects treated by these leading minds generally 
referred to what was necessary to be taught, as well 
as the proper method of teaching. The free and pop- 
ular manner in which these essays and discourses were 
presented, made them very interesting, and brought 
a very large audience together from the surrounding 
school districts, which by this time were fully recon- 
ciled to the system that prevailed at Fountains of 
Streams, as the only proper one that could advance 
the true culture of an enlightened society. 

The historv of the instruction of the human mind 
in the days of antiquity among the Egyptians, the 
Greeks and the Romans, was thoroughly canvassed, 
and what seemed to prove the most beneficial to the 
race, was garnered with skilled ingenuity from their 



Method and Aim of True Education. 317 

systems, and after passing successfully the test of ex- 
periment, was engrafted into their own. The chief 
crisis in the development of educational theories was 
generally connected with the life of some prominent 
figure in the history of nations, like Moses among the 
Hebrews, and Socrates among the Greeks. In mod- 
ern times we have the names of prominent teachers, 
who through their efforts gave education an impetus 
in the direction of true human culture, which developes 
a whole-souled, broad-minded social being, content 
and in love with private life. Without mentioning 
the heroes of the Reformation we have Comenius in 
the seventeenth century and Pestalozzi in the nine- 
teenth. In Bain's writings on the ''correlation of 
forces in man," they learned to know how extremely 
valuable it was to a right education, to learn that the 
power of emotion may be transformed into intellectual 
force, that sensation is just as exhaustive to the brain 
as thought, hence the intellectual forces of each in- 
dividual ought to be put to their full activity, and be 
apportioned in the ratio which will best conduce to 
the most complete and harmonious development of 
the entire man. 

Educational reformers in their works on the sci- 
ence of education for the last two hundred years have 
unanimously condemned many subjects which are 
taught to-day in our common schools. Our public 
schools are some two centuries behind the science of 
education. Their system is nothing but a medley of 
rules, a dry and uninteresting routine of lessons for 
external polish, in the line of the prevailing habit and 



318 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

tradition. The art of education can never be devel- 
oped outside the scientific method of induction, by 
which every other true science and art has reached 
maturity. Education is as much a science of observa- 
tion as any other, therefore the best results ought to be 
observed and noted, and in considering and recording 
these results in tables for future use, the best possible 
art may be attained, how to use the forces in man so 
as to promote his true education, which involves all 
his future best interests and well-being. 

^lan is a creature endowed naturally with emo- 
tion, affection and sensitiveness ; these forces in him 
have produced the best literature of the world, having 
furnishd the fires to kindle the furnace of his intel- 
lectual powers, and made them grow and thrill in the 
production of true art and pure science. As these 
forces are in a manner ignored and not properly util- 
ized in our public schools, you cannot expect them 
to furnish human creatures with the highest refi'.ic- 
ments of private and social life. Therefore we have a 
Puritanical stiffness and formalism cast over all Ameri- 
can institutions, where all physical and intellectual 
forces are weighed in the balance of profit in dollars 
and cents, while society developes by this education 
a gloomy, dull and discontented disposition. We can- 
not dissipate the clouds that hang over every honest 
and respectable calling in life any other way. than by 
feeding these forces with the proper food, that will 
educate the whole man into a contented and cheerful 
being. To illustrate this principle we have before us 



Method and Aim of True Education. 819" 

from this day's exercises, an essay on patriotism, from 
which we extract the following remarks : 

''The emotion of patriotism has been corrupted 
by bunkum political caucuses and stump oratory, 
into the vice of selfish ambition and national exaggera- 
tion, by which politcal bosses have made themselves 
equal to the immortal gods. It is a public acknowl- 
edgement, when every school house must have tlie 
flag of our country waving over it, that patriotism is 
at a low ebb, and every little boy that sees it float 
with a broad grin on his face, at once recognizes the 
farce. He can plainly see that among pretended pa- 
triots self sacrifice for the love of your country and its 
institutions, its liberties and laws, is an empty boast,. 
a mere pretense to give room for fraud, ambition and 
self interest, to enricn political hucksters and favorites 
on the spoils of official and party patronage. True 
patriotism has no such ingredients as boastful pride 
and hot-headed ambition ; it does not delight in wars 
and bloodshed, in party strifes of bitter personal hatred 
between its own representatives, and petty political 
broils, by which the peace and prosperity of the whole 
country is endangered and threatened with decay. No 
wonder that the little school boy stands bewildered 
with a broad grin on his face, to see his country's sa- 
cred flag degraded and forced to represent every 
demagogue aspirant to oflice, to head the procession 
of every strike, mob and riot in the country. He can 
easily see that it would be a false bravery, and a false 
patriotism, to follow that flag wherever it floats. True 
patriotism would desire some means to punish this 



S'20 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

disgrace of his country's banner. The true patriot is 
that humble citizen who is at all times ready and will- 
in^" to suffer great wrong for the sake of peace and the 
general welfare, for he knows that only under its in- 
fluence is the prosperity of his country secured, and 
only general, great and intolerable burdens that op- 
press all classes alike, can rouse him to arms. 

This false patriotism is spread upon the pages of 
our public school books, in personal praise of those 
whose ambition has been successful, whereas if they 
had failed, they would have been scandalized as dema- 
gogues and traitors. Especially is this praise distaste- 
ful, when wealth has raised them into popular favor. 
Amnog this class fraud and corruption passes for the 
greatest patriotism. All such characters are a dis- 
grace to the honor they receive. True patriotism, 
W'hen it has once filled the breast with its massive hu- 
mility, confers honors only upon those virtues which 
promote the well-being, peace and prosperity of all the 
citizens. To confer those honors upon men void of 
these virtues, simply because they have been success- 
ful in an election to some high position, even though 
it be the first in the gifts of the people, is a false pa- 
triotism, and a false pride. Honor to whom honor is 
due is the principle of true patriotism, but it is not 
due to the flattered great, where vicious habits gained 
for them the pinnacle of a false fame. 

The education of the rising generation in this false 
patriotism, involves the corruption of pure statesman- 
ship and all g-ood and wholesome laws, and like the 
volcano, it is destined to periodical eruptions, threat- 



Method and Aim of True Education. 321 

ening ruin and destruction to all the noble institutions 
and monuments within its reach, that cost our prede- 
cessors so much patience, years of endurance, toil and 
industry to establish and raise up to their present 
healthful and harmonious proportions. These erup- 
tions spring out of the pollution of politics and govern- 
ment, when true patriots everywhere abounding in the 
land, have become careless and indifferent, charmed 
to sleep in a blind security, giving way to the am- 
bitious for the sake of peace, or in the hope that one 
rascal may be the means of humiliating the other, 
until the elements of corruption have attained the 
heights of power, where they can no longer be 
checked, and then they burst forth over all bounds, 
over law, liberty, order and peace, and destroy the 
foundations upon which our institutions rest, by these 
consuming fires of human ambition, steeped in the 
schools of a perverted education, where all the true 
virtues based on humility are ignored, and vice and 
passion sit grinning on the throne. 

Thus states, societies, nations and governments, 
like the indivdual, have their main-springs from which 
all their works flow and are moulded, influenced and 
controlled. The main-spring which fashions, directs 
and controls all the works and actions of the individual, 
is the moral disposition of his heart. This force which 
moulds, influences and governs man's moral nature, 
will show itself in all his productions, and what is true 
of individuals, is also true of society at large. The 
tendency of society in any direction depends upon the 
manipulation and control of the forces which mould 



322 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

and change the innate moral springs of human nature, 
you may call the results of this change his convictions, 
persuasion, or dictates of conscience. The forces 
brought to bear upon man's moral nature directs and 
controls it according to the nature of the controlling 
force, and these forces are so various and innumerable 
as the fancies of the imagination. 

Take obedience, humble, childlike obedience. 
]\Ian as a social being is not alone in this world : he is 
surrounded by nature, by his fellowmen, and accidental 
tendencies come in contact with his natural disposition, 
and physical and social circumstances confirm or dis- 
turb his character. If fear enters into the composi- 
tion of his obedience as its chief element, the result 
will be a brutal despotism, harsh treatment, punish- 
ment and oppression of subordinates, cringing cruelty 
of manners, insecurity of property and goods, scanty 
production in the fields of genius, invention and art ; 
and the enslavement of the weak and helpless. This 
has been the natural result in all despotic governments 
private and public from the beginning of the world. 
If the elements of fashion enter as the main force into 
obedience, the results will be like in France, a grand 
military organization with fine administrative ability, 
revolutionary impatience with fits of patriotism, the 
cringing courtier lifting his hat to the well-bred man, 
the refined pleasures of society with worry and heart- 
aches in every family, the equality of man and wife 
with the imperfections of the marriage relation, 
amounting almost to free love. If the instinct of duty 
as among the Germans chiefly enters into obedience. 



Method and Aim of True Education. 323 

it results in security and happiness in the family circle, 
a solid domestic life, respect for established family 
dignities, a superstitious devotion to old customs and 
inequalities in society, and a natural regard for the 
law of the land. Thus, according to the forces that 
operate upon the human intelligence in any society, 
will the character of that society manifest itself in all 
its works. 

Take a work of fine arts, the picture of the 
Savior. Where is the well informed person who can- 
not easily classify these pictures and tell who produced 
them? The painter like every other artisan paints 
for his customer, and must ply his brush according to 
the prevailing taste that has become fashionable in 
the society where he lives, among which also the im- 
pressions of his own mind have been formed. Every 
work of imagination has its roots and foundations 
among the impressions received from the real life 
of society where it was produced. So it is with the 
picture of Christ ; you can tell by its chubby, massive 
and muscular proportions and red colors, its German 
origin ; or by its delicacy, scrupulously exact and 
slender form, the work of a French artist ; or by its 
shock of hair and heavy beard, that it was made to 
sell among the Dunkards. Every sect has formed its 
own notion as to how the Savior looked ; to the Dunk- 
ard He must have been a Dunkard, to the Papist a 
Papist, to the English an Englishman, and to the 
French a Frenchman, and to converted Jews, a Jew. 

Every society stamps its character upon its liter- 
ature, music, philosophy, science, government, its in- 



324 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

dustries and its religion. The disposition of every 
human society results from the cause or combination 
of causes that formed it. The same law is just as 
natural in the moral as in the physical world. Whatever 
force developes confidence in a Higher Power gives 
rise to the religious sentiment, and whatever force 
lowers the temperature, deposits the dew. As the 
naturalist can construct the entire animal from a few 
characteristic points, so if you have given a certain 
society with its products in art, science and literature, 
you can determine the moral condition that produced 
it, as well as the influence of race, force of surround- 
ings that were necesssary and most suitable to produce 
just this moral condition. There is a special moral 
condition for the accomplishment of every human art, 
as well as for every detail in the art itself, and again 
for the entire work. Every moral condition has its 
own distinct germ or force in human psychology, by 
virtue of which we see it produce its results, oftentimes 
amid the general poverty of all its surroundings. 

Psychology is able to trace out these rules of hu- 
man growth, and each special formation of society to 
the forces brought to bear upon the human intelli- 
gence or consciousness. And if only one element like 
that of fear, fashion or duty has such far-reaching 
results on obedience, how infinitely important is it to 
have our patriotism pure and uncorrupted from everv 
degrading influence, and strengthened by everything 
that is noble and of good report? 

Now put the element of self-interest and ambi- 
tion into patriotism, and what will be the result? 



Method and Aim of True Education. 325 

Will it still consist in a pure devoted love for one's 
country and its institutions? And to prove this love 
of country and home, will such a patriotism be will- 
ing and ready in its hour of trial, to sacrifice every- 
thing for its country's welfare ? Those who have 
their mouths full of patriotism, and exhaust their 
breath in praise of their country, are the last to make 
the least sacrifice for it. They show their patriotism 
by running for office or seeking government employ- 
ment, and because the government affords them their 
bread and butter and fills their purse with plenty of 
money, this selfishness constitutes their chief ingre- 
dient of patriotism, from the president down to the 
school ma'am, or backwoods postmaster. These sharks 
run for office, they smile sweetly in everybody's face as 
though patriotism was made of smiles, and never knew 
how to knit its brows or gnash its teeth. They shake 
hands with everybody, claim every voter for a friend, 
as though patriotism had no enemies. And after the 
election, they turn these former friends the cold 
shoulder, and pass them by unnoticed. Their pa- 
triotism is nothing else but self-interest, greed and 
filthy lucre. They are after the big salaries, and 
having that, they immediately adopt the principle, 
that an officer or employee of the government would 
be a fool to pay the least attention to the wants and 
desires of the people. The people are to them, simply 
a flock of sheep, whose wool and mutton they as offi- 
cers have the right to come at, any way they please. 
And the more spoils the more ballast for the wings 
of their ambition, to exalt themselves in their im- 



326 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

pudence above the people. And this success, to- 
gether with party affihations, is their patriotism, which 
they throw hke dust into the eyes of their constituents, 
to bhndfold them into the behef, that such men are 
the fathers and protectors of their country. Whereas, 
they are nothing but thieves, hving from the public 
crib, and traitors to the country, who seek office merely 
out of self-interest, and spend enormous sums to gain 
votes, thus to corrupt the free and undisturbed choice 
and judgment of electoral powers. These are not 
patriots, but thieves and traitors. True patriotism 
never seeks its own, but the benefit of others. Even 
in war or politics, it is not ambitious for glory, but 
for the duty of shielding and protecting the poor and 
the helpless. Self-interest has the policy and art to 
assiuue the appearance of its adversary, patriotism. 
So it has been with every vice since the fall of Adam, 
the first man." 

Xext came a paper discussing individual training 
and education, stating how every one differs in his 
own peculiarities from others, and the proper way in 
dealing with them. Leaving out remarks pertaining 
merely to the festival, we present in what follows, a 
sum of the arguments produced on this interesting 
subject. 

"Xo individual should be rebuked, blamed or 
chastised, nor in any way despised for the possession 
of his own natural peculiarities, traits of character, 
disposition and gifts. These constitute his hidden 
wealth, to be explored and developed, and brought 
out to administer to the jov and benefits of all ; like 



Method and Aim of True Education. 327 

mines of rich metal are worked, until it is fashioned 
into the various commodities so useful to the wants 
and necessities of private hfe. The manners of the 
individual should not be formed, forced and made to 
fit the measure of any particular style, but should be 
the natural expression of his own peculiar disposi- 
tion, strengthened and developed under the vigourous 
influence of correct training, so that no one need be 
ashamed to wear his own individual traits of character. 
The conversation of individuals should not be forced 
to walk on stilts of polished grammatical forms, but 
must be left as free as the air they breathe. What- 
ever is in harmony with nature is proper, free from 
all constraint, so that their mental and bodily endow- 
ments could develope to their full capacities. Every 
tub must be made to stand on its own bottom. Every 
faculty of mind should be developed upon its own 
foundation, not neglecting nor stunting the growth 
of its powers. Nature gives to her rivers and streams 
their own free course, to bend and turn wherever 
they please, and gives to the lightning and the clouds 
the freedom of the skies. So every beast of the field 
and bird of the air is distinguished from its associates, 
by its own peculiar form and disposition. There are 
no two flowers of the field, no two leaves of the forest, 
no two blades of grass exactly alike. Nature de- 
lights in this variety and freedom, and our hearts are 
filled with emotion and wonder at this display of in- 
finite variety and abundant profusion which nature 
supplies. Be true to nature. 

When you harness the creature down to an ex- 



328 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

ternal formalism, you rob it of its God-given liber- 
ties, and deprive it of its native beauties and perfec- 
tions. So a person's sentiments, opinions and lan- 
guage may become so formal and conservative, as 
to lose all their vitality and cheerfulness. Give me 
hearty and healthy associates, with a vim and a laugh, 
a free and easy way, that show themselves as they are 
every way, true to the law of their individual being, 
and the range of their powers and circumstances in 
life. It is not natural to curb one's individuality and 
every act by the arbitrary and prevalent notions and 
fashions of the world. A man should be governed 
from within and not from without, if he is to be 
the person God and nature designed him to be, and 
not a disgusting fraud. Those who are punctilious in 
shaping their conduct and conversation according to 
accepted models, thereby only confess their mental 
and moral weakness, which they would thus seek to 
hide from view, instead of strengthening and devel- 
oping them into moral traits of beauty and power. 
They bury their personality out of sight, and you are 
at a loss how to take them, and they deceive them- 
selves in trying to think they are what they are not. 
In their walk and conversation they are slaves to the 
standards they have adopted, and by their preten- 
sions only make themselves ridiculous. Shallow 
minds run after these unnatural ways and fash- 
ions because they are new, or because it gives them 
an air of superiority. In their ignorance they put 
themselves even below their equals in natural gifts, 
and acknowledge that their entire make-up is wholly 



Method and Aim of True Education. 329' 

deficient, and lacks the qualities of their own public 
advertisements. They live in a transparent shell of 
glass, adorned with all kinds of frippery, and allow 
themselves to be tugged and jerked along by the very 
index finger of fashion. They guard themselves 
against every impulse and emotion of the heart, for 
fear of demolishing their frail tenement. They work 
without enthusiasm or pleasure, and thus dampen 
their own as well as the feelings of others. 

Such people move in a stiff formalism, offensive 
to all good taste and sense. They try to make be- 
lieve that they are somebodies, more important than 
others, possessed with extra knowledge and wisdom, 
whereas every one with half an eye can see, that they 
are nothing more than common stock, and in bad 
condition at that. They round off the corners of their 
words, smooth down the edges of their sentences and 
polish ofif the sides of their conversation, and then 
try to think that no one can justly find any fault with 
them. And how surprised they often are to find that 
this process has just the opposite effect they want to 
produce. Instead of thus making themselves sought 
after and acceptable, they put themselves beyond all 
our common sympathies and affections, and become 
an intolerable nuisance. Thank your stars that no 
such stars can shine in the society of Rolling Meads ; 
they would immediately be arrested by the sympathy 
and happy charity of its citizens, and placed under 
instructions at the institution for the feeble minded. 

The peculiarities of our individual being are es- 
sential to our nature ; although tarnished by the fall,. 



■330 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

they are not on that account to be cropped off and 
thrown away Hke old shoes. When we are told to 
pluck out the eye or cut off the hand that makes us 
to offend, these natural members of the body are 
figuratively and not literally employed, to represent 
the evil power that shows itself in these bodily mem- 
bers in leading us and others astray. The evil power, 
the influence of the old corruption in our nature is 
to be overcome and destroyed, so that these natural 
members may be under the influence and power of 
the new man, zealous of good works, which is our 
reasonable service. It is only when our spiritual 
powers and gifts are thus purified from within, that 
the eye and the hand ceases to offend, and thus only 
can we approach toward that society of which it is 
said: 'It is good for us to be herel Here let us build 
tabernacles !' 

The peculiarities of genius that have given to the 
world the greatest works of art, the greatest and most 
useful discoveries and inventions, consist in certain 
individual characteristics of nature in mind and body, 
that bent their vvhole being into a certain direction, 
and thus gave them a greater insight, to utilize and 
adapt what came in their line, to the practical benefits 
of mankind. These eccentricities of genius awaken 
our admiration, love, gratitude, sympathy and affec- 
tion, knowing that such persons are generally unsel- 
fish, interested in the common good of all, and often 
neglect to secure to themselves the rich booty of 
their own inventions, which make others wealthv, 



Method and Aim of True Education. 331 

while they must too often be satisfied with the mon- 
strous ingratitude of the world. 

What makes criminals and notorious characters 
for evil and wickedness is the fact, that their minds 
become strongest in that direction where they are 
the weakest to accomplish the requirements of vir- 
tue. Cultivate their minds in these parts where they 
•are most inclined to virtue, until they become so 
strong, that they will shed an influence and strength 
upon their weaker parts and convert them by exer- 
cise into the channel of virtue. 

Where would be our pity and commiseration 
for our fellow men, if there were no such things as 
imperfections in human nature? Human sympathy 
and affection is Hke the tender ivy, they must have 
something to cling to, in order to crawl up into the 
sunlight of joy and bask in the warmth of its rays. 
And the footholds of human sympathy and affection 
to which they cling to climb, are the peculiarities of 
our individual natures. A mother may be blessed 
with a dozen healthv and robust sons and daughters, 
but she will ever turn with double sympathy and 
affection to her crippled or feeble-minded child. Na- 
ture thus flavors humanity and furnishes the true 
foundations for all individuality, the only .foothold 
for the love of our fellow creatures. 

Society demands variety, and the harmony and 
beauty of social life exists only there, vv^here the strong 
points of certain individuals are so adjusted as to 
support the weak points of the same quality in others. 
It is stupid ignorance to wage a warfare against free- 



332 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools, 

dom and development of man's peculiarities and the 
mode of their expression. Such fanatics make harsh 
inquisitors and ignorant critics, whose choice food 
for gossip is nature's freaks and pecuHarities, and 
thus they kill all the finest sensibilities of human na- 
ture at the root. All stupid idiots the world over, 
busy themselves about the eccenticities of individu- 
alitv in human nature, and would reduce society to 
a tasteless and senseless uniformity. But nature's 
God is too powerful for them, and truth is so much 
stronger than fiction, else mankind would have long 
since been undone by fools, gossips and crusty self- 
exalted critics. 

This senseless uniformity is even carried over 
into the external society of the church, by shallow 
and pretentious religionists, corrupting principle and 
truth under the form of unionism, attempting to crop 
away all diiTerences of creed and belief, by the imposi- 
tion of a yoke of human bondage, consisting in a 
few fanatical opinions, ignoring the essentials of all 
truth and nature, preventing poor souls from clinging 
to those particular footholds in the divine economy 
which gave them their greatest joy and comfort. 
Every Christian denomination without exception, is 
bent on gaining the largest number and to hold the 
crowd together, regardless of their sentiments of faith 
and conduct, to have large and costly institutions of 
learning, and even their missionaries are taught no 
longer to be satisfied with Christ's instructions and 
principles, that is, to go out without money or scrip 
or a change of raiment, on the plea that men and the 



Method and Aim of True Education. 333 

woild have changed since then, and therefore Christ's 
teachings no longer hold good, so they must first 
have their purses well lined with gold and silver, their 
traveling expenses must be paid and a fine salary as- 
sured, before they will be persuaded of the divinity 
of the call. And the professors in our church in- 
stitutions set the example. All distinctive and posi- 
tive Christianitv is sacrificed for an outward show. 
The eye is no longer single for the salvation of im- 
mortal souls, but hovers over the heads that walk 
among piles and mountains of gold in uncertainty 
at first it may be, but is always sure at last to let the 
soul go, and take the gold. The care of souls re- 
gardless of consequences of a mere earthly nature, 
is no longer the single object uppermost, absorbing 
all thoughts and energies of those who engage in the 
work. The correction and discipline of offenders is 
not only strenuously avoided, it is no longer toler- 
ated, because the soul of the man they are after is 
found in his money. The variety of spiritual capac- 
ities, capable of entertaining a variety of spiritual 
gifts, in which one individual differs from another, 
all of which ought to be strengthened, purified, cor- 
rected and sanctified, each by its own proper ingre- 
dient from life's nourishing store, in order that they 
may all grow in true holiness of life, and the whole 
man thus may gradually be able to rise above his 
faults and weaknesses, is no longer thought of, but 
is rendered impossible by the imposition of human 
plans and contrivances, enslaving the multitude, and 
crowding out the individual. 



38-1: FoiiJifaiiis of Streams and Public Schools. 

The bread of life came down from heaven to 
feed and strengthen the souls of men. You cannot 
reap unless you sow, and what you sow that you must 
reap. Besides you must feed the soil with the neces- 
sary ingredients peculiar to the crop you want to 
raise, and you must cultivate it to make it grow, 
keeping down the weeds by correction and discipline. 
All civilized beings grow up as they have been fed, 
bodily and spiritually. Even savages show the metal 
of their pasture by their mental and moral stagna- 
tion and star^-ation. The farmer knows his soil will 
be unproductive, hard and dead, unless he feeds it. 
A man who deprives himself of the necessary food 
for the life and proper support and development of 
his sensitive and emotional nature, and is satisfied 
with the husks of his own meager accomplishments, 
will soon become a mental and moral wreck, and 
little less than a barbarian. It is a prevailing fact 
that society in general never has enough, nor a suffi- 
cient variety of the proper mental food. Men save 
every cent to add to their wealth, and deny them- 
selves and their children the books that would de- 
light and quicken their emotions, enlarge their ex- 
perience and range of healthful enjoyments. They 
will not allow their families any enjoyments, it is 
nothing but work, work : they must get along with 
the least amount of furniture possible, all musical in- 
struments are forbidden, because these things cost 
time, labor and money, without yielding a large crop 
of dollars and cents. Such a process will naturally 
starve out all the virtues oi 2:enerosiLV. charitv and 



. Method and Aim of True Education. 335- 

Hospitality, together with all dispositions which make 
human character lovable and attractive. All these 
qualities are sacrificed for greed. It is a fixed law 
of nature, if you do not strengthen and develop a 
man's capabilities for good, his evil propensitives will 
grow stronger of their own accord, and he will find 
associates abundant to encourage him in the down- 
ward path of darkness. If you want to raise a garden 
of weeds, just let it alone, put no plough, spade or 
hoe into it. 

Chemistry teaches us just what ingredients are 
necessary to make the soil produce any certain kind 
of grain more bountifully. So a Christian life has- 
its constituents, which must be introduced as nu- 
triment, to make it manifest itself in its own rich 
vitality and attractive fruit. If men are to live a 
happy, social life, they must be supplied with a good 
and wholesome social food. The home ought to be 
made cheerful and attractive, with appropriate pic- 
tures, adornments, books, music and flowers. All 
the domestic affections should be cultivated by hospi- 
tality and social converse with wise and good friends, 
encouraging them to meet in the family circle. The 
mind should be wide open to receive the impressions 
that come to us from every side. But those who 
only feed on greed and gain, become coarse men and 
women, like cattle fed on coarse food. They volun- 
tarily make out of themselves beasts of burden, and 
by their insufficient food of the right quality become 
so weak and decrepit, they go falling under their load 
and stumbling all the day. It matters not how well' 



■336 FoHJitains of Streams and Public Schools. 

to do these people are, they worry themselves with 
unnecessary burdens, \vith shadows that threaten and 
torments that kill. How can you help them ? It 
is evident they have never taken the food necessary 
to enable them to cast thir burdens down at the foot 
of the cross. Their understanding has not been suffi- 
ciently enlightened to enable them to recognize, that 
when the cross was raised on calvary, all the bur- 
dens of penitent souls were lifted off forever ; they 
never give up their old dirty packs, which shows they 
do not believe that Christ bore it for them in His 
own body on the tree. They can never feel that sense 
of glad relief, that makes the heart light and cheer- 
ful. They burden and wear out their lives with cor- 
roding cares, from which Christ came to set them 
free. How many who have this bread of life and seem 
to trust it for the free and full forgiveness of all their 
sins, cannot as God's children trust His providence, 
and insist on carrying their old packs with them to 
the grave ! 

These people lack the proper and sufficient spir- 
itual food. They need the food possessed with the 
ingredient necessary to strengthen their trust in Prov- 
idence. They go groping along under the cares and 
burdens of this life in good and evil days alike. Pros- 
perity and success never succeed in tossing away 
their sordid and harrassing cares, because they find 
fault with the future. Every day they shoulder the 
burdens of the morrow, they insure their lives, they 
insure their property, they join aid societies, and thus 
worry themselves with the futile attempt to steal a 



Method and Aim of True Education. 337 

march on Providence. They lack the spiritual in- 
gredient of trust, and their faith is not strong enough 
to throw off their burdens into the hands of Him 
who feeds the birds and clothes the flowers of the 
field with more than royal garments. They cannot 
perform their duties with cheerfulness ; they find no 
opportunity for social enjoyments ; because they can- 
not leave the morrow to take care of the things of 
itself. Clouds of melancholy surround them ; no 
words of cheer fall from their lips ; their minds are 
moody, sullen and sad, absorbed in troubled thoughts. 
They have no sympathy for those who dwell under 
their own roof ; they become selfish, gloomy, dull, 
stupid and mean. They are cross and scold at the 
least expense for the delight of their own children, 
and confine all expenses to the simple necessities re- 
quired to keep soul and body together. All their 
time and thoughts are occupied to drive away the 
spectre that haunts their imaginations, the phantom 
of poverty, although their cellars are filled to over- 
flowing with the supplies of life, and their store houses 
are bursting with plenty. 

Such people have no knowledge of what real Hfe 
is, being wholly absorbed and occupied with its means. 
They are always busy at work, without ever learning 
its mission. They do not know that work is simply 
intended to supply the comforts and wants of bodily 
and social life around you. If you would enter upon 
the real enjoyment of life, you must do your work 
■cheerfully, and leave dull care behind, or it will trip 
you up, and rob you of its comforts, destroy your 



338 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

peace of mind, cheat you out of all the rewards your 
labor is appointed to win. Lay down your pack of 
care, cheerfully perform your appointed task, and 
freely unbend yourself amid the joys and comforts 
of social life, and let Him who alone is able, carry 
this load, who numbers the hairs of your head, and 
without whose notice, not a sparrow falls to the 
ground." 

Another produced the following arguments on 
the influence of censure and praise in the education of 
youth, strongly denouncing inhumanity and ingrati- 
tude : 

"To educate society for the best results, you 
must control the individual, by taking hold and set- 
ting the springs of his inmost being in harmonious 
working order, to vibrate into the sweet music of an 
attractive, agreeable and happy life. ]^Ien are like 
children, they must not be told with icy cold words 
of censure and stiff reproach, the right way to do a 
thinof, or how to conduct themselves in certain cir- 
cumstances, but the right way and proper conduct 
should be warmly recommended, highly approved and 
enthusiastically upheld, so that the individual may 
be aware that this approbation will become his own 
bv complying with such conduct. 

Children are often discouraged because they get 
no credit for what they do. When a child takes pains 
and tries to do its task well, it knows that credit is 
its due. and when it remains unnoticed, its budding 
hopes and efforts are disturbed, and it becomes dis- 
heartened and 'discouraged. You say well enough. 



Method and Aim of True Education. 3B9 

that virtue is its own reward, but he who has no 
proper estimate for the effort, has none for the vir- 
tue, and mistakes the reward. How many a noble 
and sensitive nature has been broken down with un- 
utterable grief, simply because no one of the multi- 
tude whom he serves, ever honestly tells him of his 
good opinion and satisfaction with his labors ! This 
makes many a noble servant toil over his work in 
secret disgust, fearing that some unjust and unkind 
criticism might hurt his feelings, while expecting all 
the time what he has a right to expect, a word of 
honest approbation, which would fill his heart with 
encouragement, and yield a bountiful harvest of good 
things. All men have a just claim for credit and 
esteem for their good behaviour, and deeds of love 
and kindness. It is ungenerous, unkind and ungrate- 
ful, not to be thankful for benefits received. Thanks 
and praise go together. If a teacher expects credit 
for his work, he must give credit to his pupils who 
do the work. The good motive to do a thing, as 
well as the good done, ought to meet with the ap- 
proval of the hearts that love us, and we should re- 
ceive their thanks with grateful pleasure. It would 
be wrong and unnatural otherwise, and we feel that 
justice has not been done us. 

This neglect to honor where honor is due, pre- 
vails where envy is permitted to misconstrue our 
actions, or where all praise is confounded with flat- 
tery, or where praise is made the motive of our work. 
In the latter case it is not deserved. But envy is a 
vice, that cannot endure that any praise should be 



340 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

bestowed upon any one but itself. Approbation or 
credit is often withheld where it is due, for fear that 
it may be taken for flattery or hypocrisy. When we 
express our gratitude for benefits received, some look 
at us with astonishmnt, others are amazed, and others 
again take it as an insult. They do not want their 
kind deeds mentioned to their face, because they think 
it flattery, and all good people justly despise flattery. 
Hence credit for good deeds done is so scarce between 
man and man, that they have lost the grace how to 
render or receive it. The humorous man thinks 
some joke is about to be perpetrated upon him. 
Among husbands and wives, parents and children, 
fault-finders are more plenty than good-finders. 
Faults are dug up and searched for, and never fail 
to receive censure, while good deeds are left un- 
noticed. How much better were it for society, if 
this rule were turned round? Women devote their 
lives to the comfort and happiness of their husbands, 
and go to their graves at last, thirsting for only one 
good word from their husband's lips, which was re- 
fused them all their lives, and is bestowed at last upon 
their tombs. The patient and ceaseless care of a 
loving and devoted heart is as worthy of approval, 
as the loving kindness and beneficent ministry of 
God Himself, for God's ministry reaches us chiefly 
through our friends, who are in God's stead, and 
when we praise these humble servants of God, we 
bestow praise upon God Himself. True, where self- 
praise becomes the dominant motive of action, it 
alwavs degrades and disgraces the individual in the 



Method and Aim of True Education. 341 

eyes, of all honest and good people. The mind that 
feasts on self-praise is not healthy, it is morbid and 
corrupt, and its praise becomes flattery. 

Yet, there is a difference between praise and 
flattery. True praise is a tribute to acknowledged 
worth, and is entirely unselfish in its motive. Flat- 
tery always is connected with a selfish motive, and 
seeks by falsehood to feed its own applause. -You 
cannot flatter a man worthy of true praise ; for^ he 
will not fail to resent it with disgust. The flatterer 
has a debased appetite for gain ; he is a scoundrel, 
and those who listen to his falsehoods are arrant 
knaves and dumb blockheads. - Flattery is nothing 
but a web of hypocrisy, woven with the finest, sub- 
tlest thread, consisting of darkest thoughts and black 
designs, more cunning than Vulcan's net, that tangled 
Mars and Venus in its magic toils. It is a kind of 
deathly honey-dew that falls on rank pastures ; a kind 
of praise that poisons fame ; a garment of night's 
shade as gay as the breezy gossamer ; it candies over 
all sins, and all that's vile it calls ornamental accom- 
plishments. Flattery whispers its swelling charms 
into the ears of virgins, and puffs them up with their 
own high flown opinions, and bloats them into 
wenches ere they arrive at twenty years, and makes 
them dream of little angels with rakes and pitchforks 
on their shoulders, and think they see them in the 
water they drink, and hear the buzzing of their wings 
in the dark. It paints all things as false as fair, and 
the veriest truth itself is turned into a servant of de- 
ceit. Flattery's flaming throne burns in the region 



342 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

of fashion and vice, wrapped in lurid glare and steepy 
darkness, where he is worshipped who abode not in 
the truth, and w^here they call hypocrisy enlighten- 
ment. 

Thus, there is a heaven-wide difference between 
praise and fiattery, and he is certainly to be pitied 
who is not able to make the distinction. 

He who is worthy of praise is always grateful 
to receive it, wdien it has been first sounded in the 
ears of others, and through them reached his own. 
God never lifts a man so high but what the most 
delightful music that reaches his ears always comes 
from the lips of approving, generous and apprecia- 
tive hearts. 

Members of society must constantly lean upon 
each other, or they will go stumbling and tumbling 
upon one another. x\ll need encouragement on the 
thorny path of duty, and loving friends, who with 
our own conscience, disapprove whatever does not 
become us, and from whom we long to hear : 'Well 
done, thou good and faithful servant.' ^^'e owe it 
to ourselves, we owe it to society, that we may avoid 
all selfishness and envy, freely to render honor to 
whom honor, and tribute to whom tribute is due. 
and not to wait until they are in their graves, when 
it will do them no good. 

Society is too often like a desert, in whose at- 
mosphere all the flowers waste their fragrance. So 
the greatest benefactors generally pass through the 
world unnoticed, and lay down in their graves, with- 
out ever havino- -received anv gratitude for what thev 



Method and Aim of True Education. 343 

have done for human welfare and happiness. When 
mean jealousies disappear at the grave, and the turf 
has been laid on their bosoms, songs are sung and 
costly monuments erected to their memory, and their 
children are petted and cared for Dy a jealous and 
false world, that makes an effort in this way to pay 
up for its negligence and ingratitude. To say noth- 
ing but good of the dead, is a saying, that had its 
origin in the consciousness of society, of its own 
injustice and meanness to the dead while they were 
yet alive. Many a kind soul has been slandered and 
abused during his whole life, and goes to his grave 
amid the shouts and laudations of the multitude. H 
is a confession of hypocrisy, the foulest fraud, a burn- 
ing shame, and a hateful pretense. 

Honestv is always ready to recognize the truth, 
to encourage and strengthen it by its approbation, 
and all that is noble grows stronger by its influence. 
Such honest and just approval, freely given to those 
deserving it, is like the sunshine, the showers, and 
the warm breezes to the tender blooming flowers. 
It makes home sw^eet and happy ; it takes man from 
himself to live in the bosom of his treasures, and 
makes him more than a king in his burning throne. 
From him his children gather courage, inspiration, 
impulse and direction for the duties of life. Lavish 
your tears and endearments upon living hearts, and 
not upon the dull cold ear of death. Everywhere 
we find penalties in abundance, but no rewards ; re- 
proof, but no approbation; faultfinding and criticism 
without let or hindrance, but cheerful encourage- 



044 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

ment and approval are as scarce as poppies in Green- 
land. 

Let the work of the new creature go on from 
within, until the outward man conforms more and 
more to the precepts of the divine truth and righteous- 
ness. Let it root out the ingratitude, that hideous, 
marble-hearted monster, that freezes up all the living 
fountains of the soul, and is far more unkind than 
winter frost, with its bitter sting of neglect, and bene- 
fits forgot. Ingratitude, is the blackest spot under the 
blue curtains that engirdle the globe. It forgets the 
kindness and benefits that heaven bestows, and buries 
them under the heap of its whines, its whimpers and 
murmuring groans. It spurns a friend in need, that 
often came to the rescue of the ingrate in his distress. 
There is nothing more unkind, loveless and merciless, 
than ingratitude. Ingratitude is a barren waste, with- 
oiu a single oasis or drop of water, nothing but parched 
and burning sands, winds and hurricanes of fire, that 
scorch and burn up every living thing, black as night, 
illimitable as the ocean, full of graves, scarred and 
blackened monuments, ruins of cities and himian habi- 
tations, the lingering specters of war. the slaughter of 
women and children, infernal biitchery, murder, death 
and utter destruction and desolation." 

The festive character of this jubilee no doubt re- 
ceived its highest and grandest expression, when Lil- 
lian ]\Iorven entered the stage. As she is so inti- 
mately connected with all that has been presented in 
these pages, we are prompted not to pass her by un- 
noticed, although her efforts chiefly serve only to 



Method and Aim of True Education. 845- 

increase the festivities, and may be regarded as the 
best part of the jubilee. Nevertheless, she proved her- 
self in this exercise an example exhibiting the proper 
aim of all true education, to direct the emotions of the 
soul with great energy into the highway of honor that 
leads to social cheer, the enjoyment of nature and 
sweet home, the happy association of dear friends, 
devoted to each other in friendship, love and truth. 

Lillian Morven, together with a few of her old- 
time friends entered upon the stage with a musical 
composition, which Lillian made for this occasion. 
After the quartet had sung a few verses of the poem,, 
and had been called upon several times to hear it again, 
Lillian arose and read the entire poem she had com- 
posed to the audience. It referred to the spring-time 
of life, to the little birds and little children, to the dear 
ones never to be forgotten, in the better land. 

SPRING. 

"Swift the sunny hours with shining flow'rs 

Roll onward, running- with royal degree, 
'Mid the meadows, through the merry bow'rs, 

By the green banks of the brook on the lea ; 
Here we'll have our sweet home, and the happy days sing; 
Oh, thou bride of my bosom, thou beautiful Spring! 

"Back, come back, sweet hearts, this bank is green, 
Bowers of beauty still bloom here for ye!- 

Hark ! — what hollow echoes howl so keen, 
Down in the dale with a dash and a glee? 

Up they come, round the curves and the cliffs of the stream,. 

Like confusion confounded and fiends that blaspheme! 



-34t) Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

"Ho. but hark I the welkin high doth roar! 

Jays with their jargon are jangling their cries; 
Ducks with drumming quacks their deavings pour; 

Crows with their cackling are crowding the skies; 
Ouarr'ling rooks with hoarse ravens are roaring for war, 
All the brood of loud bedlam bombarding the air! 

"Summer songsters. Oh the sweets they bring I 

Here they come, hovering high from the east! 

Lays of longing, mates in love now sing: 
^^'ife-birds awaking their warblers to feast ; 

Bringing grubs, little goodies and grasshoppers sweet; 

See them dart for the dragon fly, daintiest meat I 

"Busy birds prepare their bread in summer, 
Pecking and picking and pulling all day. 

Freedom fills the lap of fancy's roamer : 

Fair nature fondh^ doth favor his sway. 
With nice butterflies, blackberries, bees from the hive, 
Ev'ry worm, little weevil and wee thing alive. 

"''Roll, ye rosy-bosomed realms and sing! 

People the purple air. plum'd with your beams; 
While the winds midst honied warblings fling 

Fragrance, diffused from rich flowering streams. 
Oh! how fickle is fortune that flutters so gay, 
As the setting, sun sinks, so her sweets pass away. 

■''By yon brook that idles by the lane. 

Favorite florets their foliage shed: 
Shells, that strewn on either strand remain: 

Linger so lonely, and long for the tread 
Of the soft feet of s^-mpathy. sweetly to glean 
In her borders, the blush of her beauty unseen. 

"See them sally in the spring's fair life. 

Tripping like tiny little tots on the green. 
Playing parties to a paw-paw fife : 

Round and around go the rings in the scene. 
•]Mid the red flowers rins'd by the rain and the dew, 
"Till the bow in its beaut}' comes bounding to view. 



Method and Aim of True Education. 347 

■^'Boyhood basking in the beam's bright ray, 

Play'd in the paw-paws and peal'd them for hahers, 
Singing songs and telHng stories gay; 

Plaiting the peehngs to pelt the defaulters, 
'Till they gallop the green and look grim in their wrath. 
And then tumbling and tripping they tore down the path. 

"^'Bonny brothers! hearts both brave and cool; 

Lassies that linger in love's soft appeal ; 
Gone to graduate in some greater school, 

Far and so far away! Fare you well! 
Alas, time with his tooth has quite tortured our mirth, 
And youth's bounteous benison banish'd from earth. 

""Balmy blooming vales, once bright with flow'rs ; 

Seats that once sparkled with social hearth-fires ; 
Cold and cheerless, now your circling hours 

Slow gliding, spurn the fond spirit's desires; 
For the pathos that pours through the purpose of life. 
Ever longs for the lovely ones, lost in its strife. 

■"Whence thy wants, midst nature's wealth arise? 

Verdant thy vales with their velvety green, 
Fertile fields that laugh to face the skies, 

Temper'd with toil and its tears all serene? 
Ah! the vulture of vanity visits thy glades. 
With his beak dripping blood, thy fair bosom invades! 

"Such the scenes where former suns once roll'd. 
High up the heavenly hill o'er the world ; 
Where the woods in glory wav'd their gold. 

Mounting to meet the bright morning unfurl' d. 
Oh! those scenes are now sunk like their suns in the west, 
Like the dream of a day, that lies dead in the breast! 

"'Perish, proud world, in thy pool of crime! 

Fire and confusion thy fate shall reveal ; 
liend the rock-ribb'd earth wath rage sublime. 

Terror and torture and thundering peal ! 
But the soul from its sanctified solitude wakes, 
As the crimson-wing'd curse its last conquest mistakes.. 



348 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

■'■'For the taithfiil dead shall flourish still ; 

Back to the breast turns the breath of the soul;. 
Death must die, and all its debts fulfill, 

Serving the suffering saint to his goal. 
He shall pass the dread portals in pleasure to rest, 
That remains in the mansions of Majesty blest. 

'"Tell the tidings from the times of old : 

Void is thy victr'y, and vanquish'd, O grave! 
Sin is slain, and death's hot sting is cold! 

^Nlercy immortal is might}- to save! 
Go, ye heralds of hope from on high and make known, 
That the Right-hand of Righteousness rules on the throne f 



CONSCIENCE REQUIRES FAITHFULNESS 
AND DUTY. 

^ 1$ ^ 

THERE was an oration delivered at the last jubilee 
at Fountains of Streams, which we reserved for 
this chapter. The subject of this oration is "Duty, 
as the Mainspring of True Education for all the Pur- 
poses of Life." The orator spoke as follows : 

"Be faithful over a few things, and you will be 
made ruler over many things. The reason why so 
many fail, is because they lack faithfulness, thorough- 
ness and accuracy in mastering the details of their 
profession, business or trade. It is an easy matter 
to obtain a general knowledge of almost any calling, 
but it is not so easy to become quite familiar with all 
its details. The employer soon sees the diiTerence 
in his workmen, and promotes a man, not merely be- 
cause he can work, but especially because he has his 
eyes open to what is going on around him, and is 
busy in mastering all the details of his trade. Con- 
stancy to duty, will make a man honest and industri- 
ous. He will not shirk duty, but studies to find more 
to do, and makes his employer's interests his own. 

Even in law these moral habits take the lead. 
The men who have become eminent in this profession, 
are those who possessed the very highest moral 
character. There are plenty of bad men in the pro- 
fession, but the community soon finds them out by 
their methods of business ; the idea of dutv is not in 



350 Foiuitains of Streams and Public Schools. 

it, it is a mere scheming and plotting for victory. 
This is seen in the character of their chents and the 
cases they undertake to defend. They encourage Hti- 
gation, take up hopeless cases, and to gain the day 
they manufacture false testimony, and try to make 
witnesses perjure themselves. These base men make 
money, and you find them in every profession, wha 
neglect the duty of their calling for money. Yet. not 
every one who accumulates wealth is successful, for 
ill-gotten gain never brings happiness, and without 
happiness there is no success. Xor can they long 
deceive the public. Honest men want lawyers of good 
standing in the profession, who discourage instead 
of encourage litigation, whose word is as good as 
their bond, and to whom honor is not an empty boast. 
These are not the men to whom the senseless crowd 
rush when they bring a sensational scandal into court, 
or want to injure their neighbor : but they are the men 
who are employed when grave and important issues 
are at stake. 

Above all should a physician possess a good moral 
character. There can be no enduring success without 
the closest application and devotion to duty, and suc- 
cess can only be reached by years of hard study and 
experience. Of course, even all this would amount 
to nothing, without some special natural fitness for 
the work. He must possess diligence in studying the 
books contantly, to keep up with the progress of medi- 
cal science. Fitness, duty and a good conscience 
make the physician. The professor in a medical col- 
lege who can lecture on the learned theories of disease 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 351 

and has the text-books at the end of his tongue, is 
found wanting and helpless at the sick bed of a patient. 
Good common sense often takes away the premium 
from him, and puts book learning to shame. But the 
man of good natural sense will fail in his duty, merely 
to rely on his natural tact, and despise the sciences of 
medicine contained in books. 

Duty makes young- men independent, to rely 
upon themselves, their own energies and resources, tO' 
paddle their own canoe along the shores of time, with 
confidence in the promises and encouragements of 
heaven, and a good conscience for success. This is 
true education in a nut-shell. One of the greatest 
evils of the times is the so-called useless benefit so- 
cieties, where young men are enticed and deluded to 
join, and where they purchase with their hard earned 
dollars nothing but their own slavery and dependence 
upon others, and all the harvest they ever reap is dis- 
appointment and ingratitude. A young man who can 
not take better care of his time and money, and make 
it yield him a reasonable profit with a safer investment 
in his own pluck and duty, than in any secret society, 
is fit only to be a slave, and the football of knaves, who 
toss him around to shake his money out of him, and 
when that is all gone, they send him packing to the 
poor-house, or some place worse than that. Duty 
prompts to independent action, and together with trust 
in Providence, it is the mother of success. It is a 
curse to trust in man, or a combination of men. 

Boys rush from the farm to the city, to escape 
what thev have conceived in the schools to be the 



352 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

degradation and drudgery of life, and because they 
think there is more opportunity there to make a 
sudden rise to wealth and satisfy their ambition. They 
enter large stores where millions of dollars' worth of 
goods are sold every year. Nice looking young men 
and women offer to wait upon them to anything they 
wish to buy. They seem to flourish and do well, but 
when they learn that the best of them^ can scarcely 
make ends meet after working in the same places for 
years, they look out for another place, or think that 
the farm after all is as good a place for them as any 
other. 

As merchants, ninety-five out of every hundred 
that come from the farm, become total failures, and 
those who were successful, began their career at the 
foot of the ladder as office boys, porters or messeng- 
ers, and as soon as their fitness was discovered, they 
were advanced to higher positions. And those who 
are not promoted must stay in their lowly positions 
for life, simply because they did not show any natural 
tact in the work. It matters not how much a man 
hustles about, his advancement depends entirely upon 
his grit to stick to his duty, to prepare and fit himself 
for the work. 

Men fail because they sometimes lack courage to 
tackle the opportunities that oft'er, and others because 
they do not go at it with a will and determination to 
put all their talent into their work. They aim at ease 
and enjoyment, and it is no wonder they soon become 
indifferent to the work of the calling they have chosen. 
They forget that time is life, and that success depends 



Conscience Requires Faithf illness, Etc. 353 

on fitness and duty. There is nothing so tiresome as 
idleness, so wearisome as diversion. The devoted 
workman will find employment for his leisure hours 
in good books pertaining to his trade, or some useful 
knowledge of commerce, or the conduct of life. 

However, to meet all emergencies mere knowl- 
edge is of little avail, if common sense is wanting. 
Men have succeded without wholesale knowledge, and 
had only what they gained in their chosen pursuit. 
Men have failed with the highest amount of knowl- 
edge, because of their natural unfitness and lack of 
slight and common sense necessary for their particular 
occupation. Such will fail at any rate, with or with- 
out education. 

It should never be forgotten that a good reputa- 
tion is the most productive part of all the capital in- 
vested in any trade or profession. Every man trusts 
you, believes what you say and relies on your integrity, 
and is glad to deal with you and employ you, because 
your weights and measures are always correct, your 
guaranty is always reliable, and your word is as good 
as gold. Besides you can expect that every strange 
community will treat every honest man as a scamp, 
tmtil his reputation is established among them. If a 
young man has the germs of success in his moral 
nature he will succeed in establishing his reputation. 
If he does his duty in every detail, he will have the 
pleasure of an approving conscience, which is the 
greatest comfort and most pleasant companion in life. 

Nor does success in the business of life depend 
merely on making money. The art of keeping it, is of 



354 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

more importance. Our negative duty is, to econo- 
mize. Do not squander your hard earned means. Xo 
one can be successful in any calling without economy ; 
which avoids all waste and extravagance ; which ap- 
plies time, money and strength to the best possible 
use and advantage. But economy may be pressed 
into the extreme, and become covetousness, which 
involves meanness and sordid dull care. People 
squander time, money, physical and mental strength 
on things that do them no good, but work positive 
injury. 

Extravagance is the curse of young people start- 
ing out in life. It is the enemy of all systematic and 
practical benevolence. Those who throw their money 
away on foolish and hurtful indulgences, generally 
have none to spare for the poor, or for any good and 
noble objects. 

In the good old times boys and girls married for 
love, and went to work practicing economy and got 
along well and prospered. Xow marriage is forbidden 
until the boy has amassed wealth sufBcient to support 
his bride in all the. style of life she was accustomed to 
in her parental home. The days of love in a cottage 
have passed away, and fashionable boarding houses,, 
hotels and stylish residences with a great deal of 
misery born of jealousy and extravagance have taken 
the place of the cottasre. For a voung bride to ex- 
pect to start out in life as her parents are about to close 
it, is the height of folly, and can end only in ruin and 
disgrace. ]Money is lost, health and strength of body 
and mind sap away ; until extravagance and immoral 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 355 

conduct send them drifting no whither, without 
compass and without rudder. When heaUh is lost 
you lose the means of self support, and the next step 
will be a tramp, or you drift into some dangerous class 
of society. These are the men that become the 
greatest criminals, who shock and convulse society 
by the enormity of their deeds. This waste and ex- 
travagance results from the fact that they were never 
taught any such thing in school, how to appreciate 
the value of time, money and strength. They are not 
taught what economy is ; that is a great source of 
prosperity and happiness. The young man who leads, 
a life of extravagance and folly, who takes pleasure 
in killing his time and money in theaters, dance houses 
or saloons, has his mind impaired by excess ; the ghosts 
of misspent hours haunt his slumbers ; the pains of 
ruined health and manhood rack his sleeping and 
waking hours. On the contrary, those who prefer the 
company of their books and the social pleasures of like 
minded companions, are the happiest and most cheer- 
ful. Their time never becomes burdensome, because 
it is usefully employed. They store their minds with 
useful knowledge, and keep their conscience void of 
offense. They practice self-denial and are contented 
with their lowly place and circumstances in life. What 
they really need, they rejoice in the health and will by 
which they may acquire it, and what they have acquired 
themselves, they also appreciate and enjoy ten times 
more than when they obtain it without any effort of 
their own. The spendthrift who inherited his money, 
never knows what real pleasure is, because he never 



d-56 Foujifaiiis of Streams and Public Schools. 

learned the value and proper use of the means of this 
life. That which costs a man nothing is of no value to 
him. he does not appreciate, he has no pleasure in it. and 
it confers on him no lasting benefit. But let him earn 
his own bread, and it will taste sweet : what he saves 
will be precious to him and gives him pleasure in its 
use. You see no flashy ornaments, or display of man- 
ner and dress in those who have succeeded in life by 
the practice of economy, who have won their way by 
hard knocks, bv industrious plodding and self-denial, 
for you see them carry this discipline with them to the 
grave. Such are the men who keep their memories 
green while they live, by blessing and making those 
about them happy, by giving instead of hoarding, by 
giving for the benefit of those about you, who need it 
and appreciate it, and not by piling up wealth for the 
next generation to squander and waste away. It is 
more blessed to give than to receive. He who does 
not give while he lives for the benefit of the poor and 
needy and every good cause, will never be able to be- 
stow his possessions for the real benefit of his fellow- 
man by his last will and testament. His heart is as dry 
as his gold, and shriveled as his bonds. Curses instead 
of blessings follow their coin wherever it goes. 

I\Ien of wealth, heroes in war, in adventure and 
discovery, would have made but a sorry figure in the 
history of the world's progress, were it not for other 
means and influences of which the world takes but little 
account. Those are the silent forces and influences 
that are the most powerful in their action on the mind. 
The true benefactor is not the man of wealth, the 2:reat 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 357 

conqueror, hero, discoverer or inventor, but he who 
can bring- these hidden forces to bear, and work with 
them to stir up the hidden fires of true nobility of soul 
and conscience. The former work with visible, ma- 
terial forces, that last only for a time ; the latter with 
unseen powers which are eternal. The glory and 
greatness of Napoleon grew dim with time, and his 
name is forgotten ; while Luther, the moral and spir- 
itual hero, grows brighter with the years. One strove 
for selfish ends, to become the tyrant of the world ; the 
other, for the moral elevation of his race. The first 
is confined within the limits of earth and time ; the 
other is universal and eternal. The one passes away 
amid the glare of trumpets and the pomp of war ; the 
other, because he works with quiet and silent forces, 
and foregoes present applause, self-laudation and ag- 
grandizement, -goes quietly and peacefully to rest and 
sleeps in- the very cradle that rocked his birth. The 
first is like the blustering, "rushing mighty wind ;" 
the other is the '/still small voice," far more potent, 
because it elevates and blesses mankind for time -and 
for eternity. The highest aims that have their rise 
and end only in this world, are notorious with- folly, 
and bursting with bloated schemes, silly maneuvers, 
fever and fret. The only true and glorious progress 
and real getting ahead, is -to have the germ of the 
better life planted into the heart, trust in God and faith 
in the promises, which is open to every one who is 
content to submit to the guidance of heaven. And as 
the greater includes the less, if we secure to ourselves 
the highest and chief end of life, we will be more able to 



358 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

obtain the least — our needs on earth. Those who 
endure to the end shall win a crown of life. 

Now what else is it to educate, than to learn or 
teach pupils to do their duty? The whole object of 
the common schools is, to make good citizens, who 
know and are able to do their duty. And not one 
school teacher or so-called educator in a hundred has 
a clear knowledge of education, or what the word 
means. The word cannot apply to brutes, but refers 
only to beings endowed with an intelligent conscience, 
and denotes the promotion of man's welfare, by direct- 
ing and strengthening his moral powers, toward the at- 
tainment of his divinely appointed goal, for which he 
is intended by his creation and redemption. The word 
has been forced from its far-reaching and ennobling 
signification, and confined to the mere training of the 
physical powers, and all the information and cultiva- 
tion of mentality is to contribute merely as a means 
to that end. You can teach, instruct, train, drill, 
direct, guide, inform and discipline a brute, but you 
cannot educate it in the proper and full sense of the 
word. All that belongs to the economy of education, 
but it is only a part, and the lesser part of it at that. 
If man did not possess a physical, animal nature, this 
lesser part of his education would entirely fall away, 
and education could only refer to the greater and 
higher part of his nature, his spiritual and self-con- 
scious soul. And as such a separation is the fixed 
destiny of man, as the merely physical must give place 
to the psychical, the natural to the spiritual, corrup- 
tion to incorruption. dishonor to glory, and weakness 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 859 

to power, it is a perversion and degradation to confine 
man's education merely to his development and com- 
petency in the handHng of the materials of this phys- 
ical universe. This is a noble field, it is true, and not 
to be dispised, but instead of making it the end, it 
should be left to be what it is in reality, merely a 
means to a higher sphere. 

To educate means to draw or lead out, to train 
and develop the faculties of the mind as well as the 
body, so that man may be able to recognize and pursue 
his best interests, welfare and happiness. It is not so 
nmch the comunication of knowledge and information, 
as it is the strengthening and regulation of the intelli- 
gent conscience. Education is therefore an art which 
no one can thoroughly master who does not under- 
stand the nature and condition of the human intel- 
ligence or conscience. This art demands, it is true, a 
familiarity with physiology, but more especially with 
psychology, the science which relates to the mind and 
its moral and religious nature. Physiology is toler- 
ably well represented in many of our public schools, 
as the physical development of man is the only great 
and ultimate object of the entire common school sys- 
tem, and all mental information is merely a contri- 
bution to this end, a means simply to make man a 
more intelligent brute, than the one that roams the 
fields or the wild woods. 

As psychology is not taught or understood in the 
remotest degree in our public schools, education there 
has been and still is, a game of haphazard, a degrada- 
tion rather than an education, a kind of quackery, 



360 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

whose present rules and principles are obtained by 
mere chance, by trial and failure, by a blind groping" 
in the dark. Psychologists have ever maintained that 
man is a moral and religious being, and that educa- 
tion must be subservient to his highest moral and re- 
ligious interests. The radical defect of the public 
school system, is to leave children without the food 
and strength that God intends for the human intellect. 
On the contrary, these schools despise and neglect this 
food. There is plenty of talk about God and religion^ 
of being good, brave and useful, and all that ; but this 
is not the food God intended for the mind ; it may do 
well enough for a display, but is injurious even to the 
body, and so far as the conscience is concerned, this 
loose religious babble of the public schools, consisting 
in a mere external gloss, glare and sparkle, loosens 
and weakens the bonds that bind the soul in its service 
to the Creator, and its everlasting devotion and faith- 
fulness to His promises. For this reason school 
teachers and common school graduates are mostly pro- 
noimced unbelievers or disbelievers, who scofif at 
Christianity and regard it merely as an expensive ap- 
pendage of a worn-out superstition. 

The pretentious object of the state with the public 
school system, is to raise good citizens, and for this 
reason these schools are proclaimed by oily-tongued 
politicians and groveling sycophants, to be the idol, the 
boast and pride of the repubhc, while all sound and in- 
telligent lawyers, judges and truly educated men 
Hsten to such a rhapsodic and farcical display of phos- 
phoric elocution with a grin on the face and a bitter 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 361 

pill in their conscience. And yet, this inconsistency,, 
these vain and fraudulent assumptions of the state 
thus to make good citizens, absorb the entire and 
enormous school fund. This inconsistency and mons- 
trous outrage is so glaringly manifest, that any school 
boy of parts can see it, when his attention is directed 
to the facts. This whole school system does not only 
neglect and despise the education of man's higher 
nature, but even neglects, decries and despises so much 
of it, which even the champions of the public schools 
themselves regard as absolutely necessary to make 
good citizens. For there is nothing really physically 
good, unless it is also at the same time morally good. 
All will agree, that he is not a good citizen, who does 
not know anything about the rights and privileges of 
a citizen, or understand how to use them to the best 
interests of his country. The people have the right 
to elect their own officers, whom they think the best 
Cjualified, judging from their past records. Yet not 
one in a hundred is elected by the people, simply be- 
cause they were never taught how to judge of the 
fitness of candidates or the requirements of the office. 
It is the active sharper, the smooth-tongued politician 
that carries ofT the prize, whether he has any merit or 
not, while the deserving and best fitted are left un- 
noticed and forgotten. 

A good citizen must know and understand how 
to vote, to exercise his elective franchise, the crown- 
ing privilege of universal suffrage, the bulwark of 
our republican form of government. To tamper, 
misuse or corrupt this privilege is to corrupt and 



S6'2 Foujifaijis of Sfreauis and Public Schools. 

tamper with the very foim(iations of our repubhc. 
To understand how to vote right, for the weh'are of 
the country, invoh^es the science of poHtics : not what 
pettvfoggers and low demagogues,, jugglers and 
knaves call politics, which is nothing but trickery and 
wire-pulling ; no, politics is properly the knowledge 
of the virtues and vices of men acting upon each other 
and upon society ; the knowledge of ranks and offices 
of man's intellectual and physical powers in their 
various adaptations in life, and includes the proper 
callings of all effort and endeavor ; the knowledge 
of jurisprudence and commerce, all of which are in- 
timately connected with daily occupations and the 
wants of human society. Of course it cannot be ex- 
pected that this science should be taught in all its 
compass in the public schools, but as these schools 
pretend to give a mere elementary education, the 
elements at least of civil righteousness, the funda- 
mental principles can and ought to be taught to the 
pupils, just the same as letters, or the elements of 
any other branch of secular knowledge. And it must 
he confessed, even from a mere worldly pomt of view, 
that the elements of civil righteousness are more 
necessary than many others already introduced, in 
order to send children forth into the world equipped 
to do their duties as good citizens to their country 
and government. Their minds ought to be prop- 
erly posted to detect and abhor false principles in 
public policy, to notice and avoid errors as intelligent 
voters. 

Everv subject should be acquainted with those 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 363 

laws at least, which immediately concern himself, else 
"he incurs the censure and inconvenience of living in 
a society, without knowing the obligations which it 
lays upon him, in the contracted sphere in which he 
is appointed to move. Such an elementary knowl- 
edge of his duties is necessary to preserve the citizen 
from the gross and notorious impositions of lawyers 
and public agents, in the transaction of his mercan- 
tile and business pursuits. If such a check and guard 
is put into the hands of the citizen, these public 
sharks will be prevented from decoying and involv- 
ing innocent and simple people into many expensive 
"broils and difhculties. Cicero informs us that the 
very boys of Rome were obliged to learn the twelve 
tables by heart, as a carmen necessarium, or indispens- 
able lesson, to imprint on their tender minds an early 
knowledge of the laws and constitutions of their 
county. De legg. 2, 23. 

It is indeed a wonder, that our wise legislators 
make so manv laws to regulate our common school 
system of education, to make good citizens, and then 
leave the children to pick up at random the only 
lessons to accomplish this object. But the trickery 
of jugglers, knaves and demagogues has undermined 
this school system, and has introduced for these nec- 
essary elements the principle, that all crimes and suf- 
ferings of the world are necessary evils, which cannot 
he avoided nor prevented, but simply controlled. Our 
government mistakes its mission, when it does not 
■aim to reduce the amount of poverty, crime and 
atrocity to a minimum, which darken the world and 



364 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

retard the real progress of nations in their welfare 
and happiness. And all educational methods, which 
do not seek to avoid that which is wrong and to 
promote what is right and useful, are in the broadest 
sense of the term, systems of quackery, that, squander 
the hard earned public funds, wrung by selfish ghouls, 
from the brows of honest labor. As it is, low^ 
drunken politicians have it all their own vray and 
roll in the fiendish luxury of drunkenness and de- 
bauchery, adorned with the spoils of their, cor. upted 
politics ; simply because they can so easily befoul and 
bewilder the public mind to believe that their rights 
anci privileges would be molested and destroyed, if 
these licensed dens of bloated dogs, saloons and 'la- 
dies' parlors' were swept root and branch from the 
fa:e of the earth. Nor can you preach truth into such 
drunken heads. You can only sow the good seed,, 
and labor for future generations. 

The truth must be taught to the children in our 
public schools. No one can estimate the great im- 
portance of our common school system. It has been 
too much neglected and unnoticed by those who labor 
for the moral, elevation of our countrymen. Because 
they could not accomplish immediate results in this 
direction, but must spend their labors chiefly on future 
generations, and as they want to see the results of 
their work before them in the present, all their efforts 
are sensational and spasmodic, and leave no lasting 
benefits to bless the ages to come. A\> must labor 
to purify our public schools, bv rescuing them from 
the inconsistency of their present condition, which 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 365 

is the futile attempt to make good citizens, by stuffing 
the mind with knowledge at wholesale, while at the 
same time, this system as now operated admits and 
even defends the liberty and privilege of children and 
citizens to do wrong. For as long as these schools 
admit and defend it as a right and privilege to sell 
intoxicating liquors to the promiscuous pubhc by the 
drink, as long as they admit and defend it as right 
and necessary to have houses of ill-fame, because 
these institutions are licensed by the government, so 
long they teach children to do wrong, or that drunk- 
enness and debauchery are virtues. It will avail 
nothing to deny these positive facts. All school 
teachers and superintendents in all their efforts con- 
stantly acknowledge and confess to the inquiring 
minds of all their pupils, that they are mere servants 
of the state from which they draw their salaries, and 
that the entire school system is subject to the same 
service, and hence to the service of such debasing 
laws and institutions. 

And it must be remembered how much more 
readily the youthful mind catches and holds fast to 
such lessons of lewdness than to the lessons of vir- 
tue. Vices are like burs, they entangle themselves 
into the very texture and fibers of the garment ; and 
virtues are like the morning dew, they can easily 
be shaken ofif, or dispersed by the scorching sun. The 
lessons of virtue are made to seem cold and stiff, 
gloomy and distasteful to the lively and gay mind 
of youth, whereas the lessons of vice and lewdness 
are accompanied with smiles, they are pleasant and 



366 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

acceptable to the natural levity of the natural youth- 
ful heart, and for this reason these lessons go down 
more solid and have a more abiding force and influ- 
ence, than the few stray examples of virtue afforded 
for their imitation in the public schools, and ten 
thousand times more powerful, than the toppling 
warehouse crowded with knowledge in their heads. 

As it is to-day, our common school system teachea 
by precept and example both intemperance and ex- 
travagance, AVe have seen how they teach intem- 
perance and lewdness. And extravagance in squan- 
dering the public schools funds, on incompetent teach- 
ers, whose lives and hearts were never devoted to 
the work, on unnecessary school buildings for a mere 
display, and on school text-books frequently changed 
to benefit the publishers, is patent to every eye. What 
avails the few hints on temperance and economy scat- 
tered here and there in school books, when the con- 
trary by experience, example and practice forces itself 
into their minds on every side? And those hints 
would not even be found there, were it not for good 
hearts who labor against the saloon. It is pitiable, 
and bordering on the pathetic, to behold the vain 
efforts of these well-meanino; friends of a Sfood cause, 
Avhen viewed in the face of the facts just related. 
They remind us at once of the Grecian myth Sisyphos, 
who for his craftiness was sent to Erebos, and con- 
demned to rolling a huge stone up a steep hill a 
never ending still beginning toil, for as soon as it 
reaches the summit, it rolls back again, down to the 
plain below. Ulysses, says Homer, when he visited 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 367 

these shades, saw Sisyphos still rolling his stone in 
Erebos. So it will continue to be with all private 
combinations organized to promote any particular 
virtue or cause. The cause must be made a public,, 
national and universal one. These arrangements re- 
ally do more harm than good, for they set in motion 
other private efforts to establish counter combina- 
tions and societies, who secretly exercise more power 
to-day than all the temperance and economical so- 
cieties put together, because they have the law and 
state in their favor, while the temperance unions have 
the government to fight as well as their enemies. 
Under these circumstances it is observed, that even 
where the temperance cause does win, it has no abid- 
ing footing, as long as the laws and the schools re- 
main corrupt. 

The only and proper way to gain a victory 
worthy of the name for temperance and economy in 
public and private life, is to have these virtues taught 
and enforced into the minds and hearts of our chil- 
dren in the pubHc schools. And until this is done, 
the nation will remain a nation of spendthrifts and 
debauchees. All private efforts m this direction do 
not go out, nor are they assisted by the government ; 
the government merely tolerates them. Purify the 
fountain and then you can expect the stream to run 
clear. This is the only successful and m.ore excel- 
lent way. All private eiTorts, combinations and 
unions are mostly for private ends after all, the cause 
of envy and bitterness, and are not far-reaching 
enough to accomplish lasting benefits. Such a gen- 



368 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

eral and public remedy for existing evils, must go 
out from the state and general government, and to 
force its consideration and adoption will require the 
electoral forces of the prevaiHng powerful party or- 
ganization, and cannot fail to solicit the interest of 
all patriots and patriotic statesmen. The state owes 
it to itself, 4o teach its people its laws, to teach a sufh- 
cient amount of the elements of politics to enable its 
citizen to vote intelligently. 

Oh, that every lawyer and statesman only knew 
and did his duty to the extent- that every intelligent 
child can know and do its own ! But as there can 
"be no lasting sense of duty without conscience, and 
as lawyers and statesmen generally have an extremely 
sm.all one, so small,, that you cannot see one with 
the largest magnifier, yea, I have heard one of them- 
selves remark, that 'ten thousand such consciences 
could dance a cotillion on the pointy end of a cam- 
bric needle, and there would still be room left for 
more' : there is no wonder then that they are in- 
different to duty and the public good, and care only 
for distinction and self-aggrandizement. 

Conscience prompts us to do our duty, and with- 
out duty there can be no progress onward and up- 
ward : it is always a process backward, down-grade, 
to the drunken bivouac of the rough and vulgar. 
AMiere vice reigns and is supreme, duty is regarded 
as a farce, and ignorance as bliss. But in civilized 
society duty is always regarded as the commanding 
element of character, simply because it is the door- 
Ivceper of a good conscience. 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 369 

Duty, when recognized by the enhghtened con- 
science, overcomes all haggards, defies and subordi- 
nates all human power and dominion to its sway. It 
is all powerful, because it is the throne of God, and 
conscience is its voice. Duty makes the true hero, 
and constitutes true bravery. It enables the cashier 
rather to die in his tracks, than to give up the key to 
the safe. It enables the pilot to roast alive at his 
post, and die in the flames of his burning ship, with 
his hands on the wheel guiding it to the shore, that 
his passengers may escape in safety. It enables the 
soldier to stand to his charge, and not turn on his 
heel to save his life. Duty brings success, a success 
which is always full of joy and peace. 

This age is celebrated as the age of light and 
civilization, the golden age for which man struggled 
in vain for thousands of years. It is indeed an age 
of wonder, and its votaries look back with commis- 
eration on our pious ancestors, who had to live in 
an age of darkness and superstition. The present 
age blows itself up with fulsome eulogies, above all 
other ages of the world, as the age of progress. But 
there is no real progress without duty, the duty which 
involves accountability to authority, an authority 
which has the power infallibly to mete out just pun- 
ishment against every violation of duty. Hence 
duty is the mother of bliss. Blessed is the man when 
his Master comes and finds him occupied in his duty. 

It is true, that in the last four hundred years the 
world has made more progress in physical develop- 
ment and knowledge, than in all the other ages of the 



370 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

world. In nature's domain man has discovered one 
secret after the other, that lay concealed from hu- 
man knowledge from the foundation of the world. 
]\Ian has made himself acquainted with the wonder- 
ful forces of nature, and harnessed them to the car 
of his onward progress. The telegraph, by which 
news is sent thousands of miles in a moment, 
stretches like a spider's web over seas and continents. 
]\Ian can transmit his own familiar voice to his friends 
for hundreds of miles through the telephone. Men 
travel by steam around the globe, and in the various 
manufactories of all kinds of industries, steam sup- 
plies the place of thousands and thousands of work- 
men. Oil and electric light illumine the cities, and 
change night into day. ]\Ian makes the sun take pic- 
tures. The Roengten rays enable man to look 
through the hum.an body, through wood and leather, 
and discover secrets hid from the naked eye. The 
discovery of long forgotten human languages of gray 
old antiquity, and the histories of long forgotten na- 
tions, enables the scholar of the present age to un- 
derstand these bygone ages better than the people 
of those ages did themselves. Every year new in- 
ventions exert the highest influence on the forms of 
human life and society. Human government has ad- 
vanced from the shackles of tyrants and potent lords, 
to the will of the people, who have a right to the 
government and control of their own affairs. 

And who does not feel happy to be born to live 
in such an age? Yet, beyond all this, there is one 
thing needful to assure true happiness, bliss and con- 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 371 

tentment. Be not deceived. Eternal vigilance is the 
price of liberty. Without moral progress there can 
be no bliss, and we only deceive ourselves to think 
that the moral progress of the human race has kept 
pace with all this glare and swell of the world's exter- 
nal advancement. Not all is gold that glitters. The 
progress and success of all mere human endeavor, 
the mere exertion of all man's energies to improve 
his condition, inevitably and naturally involves his 
moral ruin and deterioration. He that will exalt 
himself will be abased. 

Have these manifold inventions and this pro- 
gress in arts and sciences made the age we live in 
any better morally, or happier than former ages? 
Has this progress and knowledge delivered the hu- 
man race from its burdens and cares, which once op- 
pressed it? Has it wiped away any human tears, or 
stopped the fountains of sorrow? Has it changed 
our groans into songs, or healed our wounds ? Has it 
brought peace to dwell with man on earth? " Has it 
turned swords into plowshares, and spears into prun- 
ing hooks ? Has this boasted progress brought hap- 
piness and contentment into the family relation? Does 
every one now dwell without fear of envy, slander or 
any molestation, under his own vine and fig tree? 

In spite of all this progress and eulogy of the age, 
it is more restless and discontented than any in the 
world's history. All everywhere are pushing rest- 
lessly onward after the bubble of earthly joys and com- 
forts, with ever increasing vain endeavor. As soon as 
they hear of the newly discovered gold and silver fields, 



o72 Foiiiitaius of Sf reams and Public Schools. 

thousands hazard heahh and hfe to seek their fortunes 
in distant lands and chmes. because they cannot find 
it at home amid ah this boasted progress. It has 
only increased the hunger and thirst in man, sud- 
denly to improve his earthly condition and relations, 
and do what he will, this improvement like enchant- 
ment, fails to put in its appearance. Burdens and 
cares have only become weightier, human tears and 
sighs have only increased, envy and strife are more 
raging among the nations of the earth, and are be- 
coming ripe for judgment. Unhappy families and 
marriages have multiplied : divorce, murder and sui- 
cide have increased more in proportion to the popu- 
lation than in any other age. War and rumors of 
wars are heard on very breeze. 

It is impossible to improve the condition of the 
race or satisfy its moral cravings for joy and comfort, 
bv feeding souls with the husks of this- world, with its 
progress in arts and science, or its fortunes in silver 
and gold. They cannot afford true progress and suc- 
cess, simply because they cannot yield the joys and 
comforts sought. The fact is also patent, that all this 
progress is but natural results and consequences of 
self-interest, and increases our discontent, wants and 
necssities. 

The only progxess worthy of the name consists 
in the duty constantly to advance toward the mark 
irrevocably appointed for the final destiny of every 
human being. What is this destiny? The great ma- 
joritv never bother their heads about their destiny, 
whv thev are here, or what is the obiect of their 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 373 

being in the world at all. They go on pushing like 
oxen under their daily yoke, or like moths they flutter 
from one flower of earthly joy to the other. Some 
think they are here to get all the gold and money to- 
gether they can, or purchase all the enjoyment and 
happiness possible, and then go where they came 
from — to nothing. Others think they are here to 
educate and develop to the highest possible degree 
the powers and talents of body and mind, to cultivate 
and improve the arts and sciences, and after death to 
pass over to a higher degree of activity. Others 
again think they are here to be as good as possible, 
and in another world to receive the rewards for their 
virtues. 

All these miss the mark irrevocably fixed for 
every man's destiny, and for this very reason cannot 
do their duty, for duty does not lie in any other direc- 
tion. It is not man's duty to lay up treasures on earth. 
Where your treasure is, there your heart is also. Our 
appointed destiny beyond all question is to be about 
our Father's business, and the greatest progress for 
an immortal spirit, is advancement in our heavenly 
Father's favor. We advance in His favor when we 
progress toward moral perfection, for perfection is 
the high water mark of our destiny. "Be ye perfect, 
for I am perfect; be ye holy, for I am holy," saith the 
Lord of hosts. Without holiness no one can see 
Him. He has not called us unto uncleanness, but 
unto holiness." i Thess. 4. If we were already holy, 
it would not be necessary for God to call us unto holi- 
ness. Hence perfect holiness is man's appointed final 



&74 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

destiny in the world to come. It is our duty then to 
press forward to the mark for the prize, not as though 
we had already attained, either were already perfect. 
Phil. 3. It is our duty' to advance unto our Father. 

In vain is all progress m arts and science ; in vam 
is all civilization and the progress of the age, vanity 
of vanities, all is vanity. For without keeping pace 
with equal steps in the progress of holiness unto God, 
it is all a backward movement toward the dark ages 
and heathen idolatry. The gods of the ancients step 
forth on the platform and the pulpit under Christian 
names and virtues, and while you rest in carnal se- 
curity on the pillow of progress, they bind and rivet 
upon you the chains of refined idolatry and cast you 
into the dungeons of the heathen gods and abomina- 
tions. It is in vain to cultivate the intellect and neg- 
lect the improvement of the will. l\Ian may deliver 
himself from human tyrants, but pride, ambition 
and evil passions, bind him down to the lowest and 
most abject slavery, and puts .him below the condition 
of the brute creation. The will of man must be res- 
cued and delivered from this captivity, to know and 
do its duty. The duty of the human will is to con- 
form and unite in the divine will, and that will is oui 
sanctification. The human will is in a state of pro- 
gress toward sanctification, when we are conscious 
that we are at our post of duty, to do His will. 
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 
To be conscious that a higher hand than our own 
is guiding- us, whose promise is infallible and irre- 
vocable, alone is able to endow the human will with 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 375 

power to overthrow the dominion of every tyrant thai 
has usurped authority over it. And this grace and 
power enables man freely and of his own choice to do 
his duty, and exercise himself daily in those virtues 
which are necessary to his progress in holiness. Ail 
other human progress, it may be as bright and daz- 
zling as it may, and be praised by the crowd and the 
world, but sooner or later it will come to grief, and 
reveal its vanity beyond all recovery. 

Gen. Grant was once summoned from the field of 
battle to give an account of his conduct in the awful 
presence of the great Lincoln and his cabinet at Wash- 
ington. They were discussing the propriety of arrest- 
ing and trying Gen. Lee for treason. They knew that 
the popular mind was at that time in a condition to 
hail such a verdict with general jubilee of thanksgiv- 
ing. But Gen, Grant as the commander of the armies 
simply exercised his right and duty, when he let Lee 
and his army go scot free, to return again to their 
a.llegiance to the old flag, and replied to his accusers : 
"If you break the terms of that capitulation, I resign 
my commission, feeling that my honor and that of my 
country would , be violated by your action." Here 
duty and conscience showed themselves more wise in 
the humble garb of a soldier, and more potent than ex- 
alted dignities and wisest counsellors this republic ever 
had. - 

Duty has led armies to victory, nerved explorers 
to scale mountains, defy dangers and surmount the 
greatest difficulties ; it enables men to meet the cares 
and daily responsibilities of life, regardless of the 



876 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

world's applause or contempt. In adversity or pros- 
perity, duty done leaves no regrets, or pangs of disap- 
pointed hopes. It is the highest aim in this life of 
the human spirit, and affords the greatest amount of 
satisfaction and pleasure. Duty does its work regard- 
less of consequences. Duty has nothing to do with 
consequences. Let God take care of the conse- 
quences. Duty is God's throne, conscience its voice. 
Let the throne shine and cast its light into the dark 
world, and if the world is set on fire by its rays, what 
is that to thee? Your duty is to let your light shine. 
A^'hen the rebellion, the greatest war of modern 
times broke out, there came to the Governor of Illi- 
nois one day a very ordinary, plain, common and shift- 
less looking man, and applied for employment in tlie 
army. The Governor at that time had plenty of sol- 
diers and ofhcers in the army, and more than his quota 
required. So he was about to turn this scrubby look- 
ing fellow the cold shoulder, and tell him to go home 
and work at his trade. But immediately a second 
thought struck him : "Would I be doing my duty as 
the Governor of the great State of Illinois, in send- 
ing even this raw and awkward recruit back to his 
home, while his country is bleeding at every pore?" 
So he concluded to find him work until a chance pre- 
sented itself to send him into the army. He put the 
little scrubby fellow to his desk, and made a clerk out 
of him, thinking that was about the figure he was able 
to cut. The clerk seemed to think so himself, and felt 
proud of his position, as the Governor's clerk. Here 
he plodded on at his duty day after day. and was 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. SIT 

wholly content and absorbed with his office. He asked 
no questions, and had but little to say. He did his 
apointed duty, and therefore he could eat, sleep and 
enjoy good health, and he cared not a fig whether a 
vacancy occurred for him in the army or not, and 
would be most happy to hear that the war was at 
an end, without his having had a hand in it one way or 
the other. Yet the war continued, and the terrible 
battles thinned the ranks of the Governor's regiments. 
He soon found out that the Rebellion was no breakfast 
job, as many had boasted. He saw now that the rebel 
army was finely drilled and supplied with arms, while 
the raw recruits of the North were driven like sheep 
to the slaughter. 

Now came the time when the Governor of Illi- 
nois needed soldiers and commanders sadly enough. 
So one day, after he had sent one regiment after the 
other into the field, he was incidentally reminded of 
his clerk, whom he had promised a command, but now 
had almost forgotten. The clerk seemed satisfied 
with what was going on about him, and kept at his. 
desk and duty, scratching and working away as usual,, 
as though his work was the most important in the 
world. The Governor noticed that his clerk had a. 
knack of sticking to his duty, and held on like a bull- 
dog to the nose of the bellowing monarch of the fields. 
He now had a long talk with him, to sound his mettle,, 
and find out whether he had the stuff in him soldiers 
are made of or not. He came to the conclusion that 
there was something in the man, although he could 
not tell exactlv what it was ; so he decided like Fal- 



•378 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

staff, that if he was not fit for anything else, he would 
at least make good "food for powder." He gave him 
the command of a regiment, and sent him immediately 
to the front. 

In the army, this clerk went on in the same old 
imambitious, sturdy and plodding fashion as he did 
at his desk. He cared for nothing else but his duty, 
regardless of praise or scorn, or other consequences. 
So the weary days and months were wearing away, 
and the South had been reaping its victories and grow- 
ing in strength and confidence in its armies, and cele- 
brating one conquest after the other, while the armies 
of the Xorth were cut to pieces and driven from the 
field in every engagement. This caused great depres- 
sion in the minds of the Northern people, threatening 
gloom and disaster, discontent and want of confidence 
in the generals of the army and officers of the govern- 
ment prevailed everywhere; while the South was jubil- 
ant and continued victorious on every battle field. The 
clouds of discontent and despondency were gathering 
thicker and faster at the Xorth. This republic never 
passed through a darker hour. Rebel sympathizers 
were rejoicing in multitudes all over the Xorth at the 
defeat of our armies, and crying out against the cruel 
war. A nation's hopes trembled in the balance, and a 
painful and sullen waiting prevailed in devoted hearts 
to hear the result of the next battles of the recruited 
armies. The spirit of the Xorth did not quail when 
her armies were swept from the field like magic. She 
saw that there was a great mistake, a blunder some- 
where. She saw that her first soldiers who went to war 



Conscience Requires Faithfulness, Etc. 379 

expecting nothing but child's play and a breakfast job 
with the rebels, had to be replaced with men who knew 
liow to fight and to war. People now trembled for 
the safety of their country, and hope began to give way 
to defeat and despair. 

Then, like a lightning's flash, came a report that 
shook the continent. Over the throes of a nation that 
shrouded throbbing hearts with fearful forebodings, 
broke the news of victory ! Shouts went up and dis- 
persed the clouds of direful disaster and awful confu- 
.sion, and a brighter and more brilliant day began to 
-dawn, when the gray eagle of the South shrieked, and 
Fort Donaldson had fallen. Then followed one vic- 
tory after the other in rapid succession, until the great- 
est general of the world, the sedate Robert Lee, sur- 
renaered to the Governor of Illinois' cierk, the modest 
man who was content to obey orders and do his duty. 
Had he refused to do his duty as an humble clerk, 
puffed up with the idea that he was made for something 
.greater, he never would have had the opportunity to 
do his duty as the victorious general of many battles, 
-and afterwards as President of the United States. Do 
your duty at the lowest level, even at the bottom, and 
then you can build safely and surely, without envy or 
annoyance, being sure that the tides of Providence 
always blow along the path of duty. 

Now, inasmuch as the public school system 
•does not directly or indirectly, endorse or enforce the 
teaching of all these virtues involving moral duty, the 
•only foundation for human prosperity and happiness, 
it is certain that it must teach the corresponding vices 



380 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

by implication, directly approving and enforcing them 
under the plea of privilege and liberty. How long 
will they put vice on an equality with virtue? How 
long shall idleness, extravagance and vice, bear the 
names of industry, temperance and virtue ? Never- 
theless, Christianity, which in the public ofhcial life of 
the country is regarded as synonymous with virtue and 
good politics, though despised and set at naught, still 
constitutes the power behind the throne to preserve 
the country and rescue it from the verge of the bounds 
less cesspool of perdition, and by her children force the 
recognition of her principles and morals, at the thresh- 
old of the schools, in spite of the schools themselves.. 
O, consistency ! thou art a jewel !'^ 



TRUE EDUCATION BLESSES ALL PEOPLE. 

f$ fS f$ 

^ ^ T T ERE we are, and welcome ! Hail fellows, 
iTv well met !" We are now down at the Port, 
Jimmie Crow's birthplace, where he spent his child- 
hood and earliest years ; the scene of the tussle in the 
snow. "Hail fellows, well met!" echoed in the halls 
of the jolly old Dutchman, who had long since re- 
moved from the tussle and hustle of the business 
world, and departed with his congenial partner unto 
the quiet mansions of undisturbed repose. 

These were the greetings of Jim Crow, Ben 
Wauthen, Frank Grail and the cowboy ; comrades 
of the olden time. This opportunity they seemingly 
all pitched upon as it were by instinct, to meet old 
companions once more, and celebrate a grand re- 
union. And they celebrated it like staunch old vet- 
erans returning from life's conquests over many 
trials, temptations and hardships. In these prelimi- 
naries they talked of times past ; they rehearsed each 
other's subsequent history up to this meeting ; they 
laughed as they looked upon each other's wrinkled 
brows and gray heads, and at the crow's foot in the 
corner of their twinkling eyes, that still flashed the 
fires of other days. They enjoyed the hearty cheer 
of the old place, renewed and remodeled, and filled 
with new life and kind hospitality. 

They all now particularly requested Jimmie to 
give an account of the ''nest that hatched" him, and 



382 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

his first efforts in learning the tricks and evolutions 
of the "genus homo."' He began by stating that his 
father belonged to a circus, and was leader of the band 
and played the cornet. This wslS the first impression 
that Vv'as indelibly printed on his memory about that 
object he was ever to esteem as his father. He said 
that his father was the very incarnation of savage 
passion, a weakness which he inherited from his pred- 
ecessors to the fortieth generation. But his mother 
was just of the contrary disposition, very mild and 
submissive, and of a rather joyful and tender nature. 
In this, he said that he always followed his mother, 
and picked up her gait, but he shunned his father with 
fear whenever he could, for his presence was painful 
in a marked degree. 

AMien he was a little boy eight years old, his 
father undertook to train him for the circus, and 
forced him along with the circus one summer. This 
was the first and hardest trial of his whole life, to 
be removed from the sweet rest of the home of his 
childhood and the dear affections of a kind mother, 
and thrust upon the cold world of ruffians and 
strangers. He was forced every day to go through 
the schedule of the circus trainer, under the direc- 
tion of his father. He made him eat a ginger cake 
while standing on his head, tumble sommersault, 
turn handsprmg, put both his legs across each other 
on the back of his neck and walk on his hands. He 
made him scratch his back between his shoulders 
with his big toe, standing on his other leg. He made 
him jump into the air, tumble round twice and light 



True Education Benefits All. 38B 

in his own tracks. During all these exercises his 
father stood by holding a large horsewhip in his 
hand, and would strike him with such force as ta 
raise welts and draw blood, every time he came short 
or made the least failure in perfecting the perform- 
ance. 

While this drill was going on, said he, many a 
tear and heaA^y sob was suppressed, and many a 
stingmg pain hid from view. He did not dare to cry 
or complain in the least, for the slightest whimple of 
his lips was sure to bring down the wrath of his 
savage master. He said that the very first ideas of 
heaven and hell that ever impressed themslves on his 
precocious understanding with any degree of certainty, 
was when his father was away from home, traveling 
with the circus, who, Jim avowed with some vehe- 
mence, ''would always rather blow in a horn, than 
dig in the ground." Then at home, in the presence 
of his mother, was the one sweet place of childhood 
that reminded him of heaven ; and under the smart 
and pain of the burning lash in the hands of the 
author of his being, made him feel certain of a place 
of torment. 

Now the cares of his childhood as well as its 
joys, had long since passed away like the fleeting 
clouds. His parents both had left him, when he was 
but ten years old. His father's haughty and cruel 
temper, which the old times regarded as a virtue, 
became irritated by rough companions and strong 
drink. ''My mother had to support the family alone, 
by the labor of her own hands. And often father 



-384 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

would come home without money, and curse our 
laziness and lack of food, so that mother was forced 
to buy him all the food and drink he craved, from 
lier own hard earnings, and received in return noth- 
ing but kicks, curses and bruises. In a certain vil- 
lage, some citizens, offended at the managers of the 
circus, combined in a night attack against them and 
my father was killed in the fight. The shock was so 
great for my mother, that she never recovered; she 
sickened with despair and died with grief, leaving me 
an orphan in the care of a kind old aunt." 

He now felt himself forsaken, like a low, despised 
waif, to hew his way through the world alone. For 
a long while he was like a dove in the pitiless storm, 
driven hither and thither with distracting thoughts, 
and felt his time passing away in vagrancy and mis- 
fortime, without work or employment. At length a 
star peeped in on his soul. A neighbor boy about 
his age learnt to know his condition, and sympathized 
with him. He learnt at the Sunday school of a 
farmer who wanted to hire a boy of his age, and 
persuaded Jimmie to accept the place, which he did 
with many thanks to his kind friend. Here he found 
his heart's desire, work and emploment, kind treat- 
ment, the opportunity of reading many books, and 
to go to Sunday school and learn to sing, besides at- 
tending public school during the winter months. This 
liad a soothing effect on his disposition and future 
prospects. 

So too. he said, it was with his birthplace. Here 
time had wrought its chans^es. and touched this vil- 



True Education Benefits All 385 

lage of his childhood with its magic fingers, and 
many a dear old place has crumbled into dust, and 
vanished from the things that be. The old dilapi- 
dated shanties have disappeared, and all their charm- 
ing squalor was gone. There they stood, surrounded 
with empty commons, the playground of the chil- 
dren and youth of other days. Here the cows and 
cattle of the villagers browsed and slept at night. 
Many a summer evening, as they lay there chewing 
their cuds, the boys would rouse them with their 
dogs, to hear them go clattering each with a bell 
on her neck through the streets like a thundering 
cavalcade, serenading the sleeping villagers. This 
was grand sport for us boys, said Jim. 

The whole town then consisted of a rude mass 
of leanmg log cabins and dilapidated frame sheds, 
propped up to prevent them from falling, some of 
them painted red and others whitewashed, crowded 
together in the wildest confusion, traversed with tor- 
tuous streets and narrow alleys, decorated with hog- 
pens and cow-stables, each with its necessary ad- 
junct of a towering pile of manure. In that entire part 
of the village tliere is not a green tree or a bright 
flower. The whole town had nothing to flatter the 
eye except two sycamore trees that stood in the 
'squire's front yard, on account of which -the street 
opposite was cahed the Bower. The shanties were 
blessed with owls, bats, chickens, dogs, cats and pigs, 
with every happy family. Dancing and gambling, 
stealing, drunkenness, fighting and laziness, wretch- 
edness and poverty, were the virtues of the hour. 



386 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

These quarters were infested with many low charac- 
ters, notorious for the many visits of the police, who 
were always glad to assist them to a free pass to the 
next village. 

Now, what a change ! How wonderful ! that such 
a beautiful city should arise out of the mass of all this 
debris, that looks from the heights of the surround- 
ing hills, like the white tents of Jacob, like the aloe- 
plants by the river side — lapped like enchantment on 
the bosom of the river downs. Here' are velvet lawns, 
stone pavements, streets shaded with maples, parks, 
lakes, fountains, plants and flowers ; here are man- 
sions of marble and granite of various hue, — all which 
tells of wealth and refinement, social cheer and the 
spirit of a golden age. 

"Hark! What noise is that? Music!" While 
they were entertaining themselves with deep interest 
in their conversation, a burst of music swept through 
the hall, echoing down from the tops of the distant 
hills, through the valleys and along the river. Now 
all rush out of doors, and stand entranced, listening 
to a multitude of human voices above their heads, 
coming down out of the sky, bathing the hills and 
the gorges with the magic of song and the sweetest 
music, like a circling shower mixed with every variety 
of melodious notes, approaching nearer and still 
nearer, toward the beautiful white city by the side of 
the river at the foot of the hills. 

It was a Sunday school procession from Salem 
and Rolling Meads, whose choice union of choristers 
were singing and making music by the way. Never 



True Education Benefits All. 387 

was music heard to better advantage. All the valley, 
the wooded gorges and hill tops round about, seemed 
like an immense auditorium, that quivered in the 
ecstacy of dehght, vibrating and echoing under the 
burden of the rolling and swehing flood. As they 
were descending from the heights of the hills on the 
winding road cut out of the side of the hills and along 
the winding torrent gorges, now circling around a 
bluff and now a wooded hill top, now and then the 
music would swell into loud and deafening intona- 
tions, and then fall away into the distances, into the 
softest strains of seraphic delicacy and sweetness, and 
all at once you heard the echoes burst again high in 
the dome of heaven, like the melting and swelling 
strains of a multitude of melodious and happy spirits. 
And such undoubtedly they were, companions all,, 
with Vv^hom the reader has already some acquaintance. 

But time, what is it but change ! The changing 
years leave their rain-washed furrows on the brows 
and faces of the hills and the mountains, and ever 
deeper the rolling years wear their channels. These 
are the furrows of time, the wrinkles of age, the 
wearing away of the hills and the chasing away of 
one generation after the other, like sheep to the sham- 
bles. 

All the teachers of the county were attending a 
teachers' institute, to be held in the hall at the Port. 
And it was so arranged as to bring as many people 
together as possible, in order to awaken in them an 
interest in education and common schools. For this 
purpose the institute would finish its work in the fore- 



■388 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

noon, and devote the afternoon and evening to a free 
discussion before all the citizens and patrons of the 
public schools, on the burning question of the Bible 
in the common schools, whether it should be admit- 
ted or excluded. For many years the use of the Bi- 
ble in the public schools was gradually gaining favor 
among all the best citizens and true patriots. The bit- 
ter wave of enmity and savage passion which swept 
over the country for thirty years had lost its force, 
and a powerful reaction was making itself felt, pro- 
duced by the manifest evil results of an education 
v^ithout religious or moral principles. In a mixed 
community the enemies of religion and morality will 
not succeed in deceiving all the people all the time. 
''AH may be deceived part of the time, and some all 
the time, but never all — all the time." Xow the few 
hopeless leaders of a hopeless cause, were draggling 
at the tail end of society, waging a warfare in which 
they were beating their own noses, and making them- 
selves extremely ridiculous. Thev found themselves 
left and ignored, to sober olT from their own passions 
and folly. 

But they were there at the time appointed for 
the discussion to begin, as though with a brazen face 
and a fiendish laugh they would overawe all opposi- 
tion. It was the smile of impotency and hopeless- 
ness. The friends of truth insisted on good order 
and the utmost fairness throughout the discussion. 
No advantage was taken or allowed to either party, 
and the question was to be decided on its own merits, 
and everv aro-ument was to be sifted for what it was 



True Education Benefits All 389 

wortli. Worthless arguments were to be withdrawn, 
that could in no manner be shown to be true. 

As the Bible had a large majority of friends pres- 
ent, the privilege was granted the opposition to form- 
ulate the propositions they desired to discuss. The 
following which they proposed was then adopted for 
discussion : 'The Bible in the Public Schools is Con- 
trary to the Fundamental Principles of Our Govern- 
ment, for Church and State Must Forever Remain 
Strictly Separate." 

The speaker, who introduced the subject in this 
form, then attempted to defend it by the following 
remarks : 

"Friends and Fellow Citizens ! — The subject be- 
fore us is self-evident. No one can deny, that the 
church and state have each their own proper sphere 
of activity, and neither the one or the other, has any 
right to interfere with the appointed work or task 
of the other. Our common school system has its 
good qualities. But whilst we are willing to admit 
that these schools do good, we are just as confident 
that they are not and cannot do what many claim for 
them. Remember, that teachers in the common 
schools have no right to convert their school rooms 
into moral training rooms, and stih less may they 
impart saving truth from the Scriptures. They can 
go no further than to teach the laws of the state, and 
that the violation of these laws will be punished as 
a crime. They have no right to teach the children 
the standard of perfection and hoHness, to which they 
must aim in their conduct on the road to the future 



•390 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

world. This is the duty only of the church. Church 
and state must needs be kept separate in the schools. 
The schools dare not be converted into a church. 

And for this very reason, because the state in 
all its duties and activities, is confined to worldly 
affairs only, and transgresses its bounds and author- 
ity, as soon as it attempts to work in a sphere that 
does not belong to it, it dare not lay hands on that 
spiritual force that gives morality its life and strength. 
Therefore, although a state may teach and insist upon 
an external conformity to its laws and civil righteous- 
ness, all this can never make children truly moral in 
the sight of God. although they may have a high 
reputation for their manners and conduct before men, 
as many heathens we read of in the times of old. 
The state has only a right to make use of this out- 
ward shell of morality. The life and kernel belongs 
to the church. And this is the reason why our rising 
generation in respect to morals is less noble than the 
generation that preceded. Some may dispute what 
we claim to be a fact. From our own observation, 
we believe ourselves justified in making the asser- 
tion, that notwithstanding all the advancements and 
improvements made along educational lines, the mor- 
als and life of our youth are at a low ebb. and that as 
a consequence our young people are getting to be 
less interested in the church and matters pertaining 
thereto, and are becoming more reckless in morals. 

The low grade of morals and the coldness in 
spiritual matters found among our young people is 
due to the fact, that the state properly confines itself 



True Education Benefits All. 391 

to teaching in its schools the mere conformity to its 
laws. Congregations that prize their children's souls, 
will not send them to the public schools. Seek ye 
first the kingdom of this world, is therefore the proper 
system of our whole school system. Is there any 
wonder that our children when they are grown up, 
have no use for the church ? 

The proper place for moral traming- and teaching 
the Scriptures is the church and the schools of the 
church. It is not the work of the state in its public 
schools to teach religion, for it is unjust and contrary 
to the rights of conscience to levy a tax on people 
to support a religion that is obnoxious to them. The 
state must deal only with the things of this world. 
True, we must use the world as not abusing it. But 
is it not an abuse bordering on blasphemy, to mix 
up our heavenly devotions and prayers with our plays 
and games, our lessons on spelling, reading, writing 
and arithmetic, with the daily routine of business and 
secular affairs, making religion ridiculous ? Does not 
familiarity breed contempt ? Do not our spiritual in- 
terests and hopes become stale and flat, by bringing 
them down to the level of the trifling things of this 
world, that pass away like a cloud ? And is it proper, 
to have them mixed up with the levity of youth, and 
have them characterized in burlesque, and ridicule 
in every travesty of exaggeration? It requires a 
fine, decent and respectable outward bearing and 
bodily preparation for the honor and respect we owe 
to that presence, which demands the devotion of our 
hearts, and the incense of our lips." 



392 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

After thus stating his argument in favor of his 
proposition, satisfied in his own self-complacency, he 
retired to his seat with the plaudits of his friends. 
The following speaker then arose and replied : 

''Friends and Countrymen! — My worthy prede- 
cessor claims that the pubHc schools have no right 
to teach morals and the Bible, and then goes to work 
and blames these schools for making our children 
reckless in morals and worldly minded. I am aston- 
ished, to hear such fiat inconsistency displayed before 
this intelligent audience. For the least intelligence 
can see that the public schools, when they are not 
allowed to teach anv morals nor the Bible, are in all 
fairness not to blame, if the children become reck- 
less in morals and given to worldliness. You cannot 
expect to reap where you did not sow. You cannot 
expect children to lead a moral life, unless you in- 
struct them and train them in the principles of mor- 
ality. How can you expect these schools to send 
out good Christian children, with good moral beha- 
vior, without allowing them the proper means to 
make them good moral citizens r 

It is conceded by the opposition that the lack 
of moral training and Bible teaching in the public 
schools leads to recklessness in morals and worldli- 
ness. To condemn the schools for this result, is an 
outrage against reason. How can it be otherwise? 
Where no morals are taught the children, they can- 
not be blamed when they grow up without them. 

Xow we too are strongly in favor of church 
schools, where children are under the inliuence and 



True Education Bcuefifs AIL 39S 

are taught by teachers of the church. But the over- 
whelming majority of the children of the whole coun- 
try would not attend and could not attend such church 
schools. What will you do with them? Does the 
opposition think that the state ought to give up its 
schools, and compel all the children to attend church 
schools, or do they think the church able in a short 
time to secure such attendance without force? 

It seems that our opponents conspire to make 
the public schools as immoral as possible, so that 
they may condemn them as a nuisance, and then 
have them abolished, in order that th-ey may get 
hold of the public school funds, as has already too 
often occurred, to support their church schools. Cer- 
tainly it would be better for the church and her chil- 
dren, to have her own parochial schools. But it is 
a burning shame for any church to truckle with the 
state for its means and resources to give their cause 
a lift that it may live. Such churches or denomina- 
tions deserve to die a natural death, for it is evident 
they have lost the true Christian spirit, and have be- 
come the worst sectarians. The true Christian Church 
asks no power, means or favors from the state, to 
build up the spiritual kingdom of Christ. It is His 
will, that all the external resources of His Church 
necessary to her worship and propagation in the 
world, should come from the free gifts of His follow- 
ers and believers, of such who are convinced that the 
church confers great blessings on society in general, 
and creates and strengthens bonds that uphold civil 
society. For others give for their own glory, and the 



■394 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

glory of this world, to exalt their own name and 
pride. In spite of all worldly powers arrayed for 
centuries in the hottest persecution against the Church 
•of Christ, she has always been able to rise up by the 
power of her own might and withstand and overcome 
all opposition, and purified her robes in the fires of 
affliction. She admits no worldly power or princi- 
pality, no worldly wealth and pride, to share in the 
glory of her building, and the exquisite construction 
■of her beauty ; and regards with suspicion every offer 
•of assistance from any other quarter, that does not 
come from her own rich fountains of grace. She has 
resources of her own, sufficiently adequate for all her 
inspired and heaven-born purposes. 

Xow suppose all denominations had their chil- 
dren to themselves in schools of their own, what 
would become of five-sixths of all the children in the 
land who, according to our statistics, with their pa- 
rents belong to no church, aiid who naturally prefer 
a school without the Bible and any moral training? 
Would not such schools, as many examples now dem- 
onstrate, exercise a depreciating influence against the 
church, and draw many of her own children away 
from her schools ? AMiere is the authority for con- 
fining the Bible to church schools only, and forbid- 
ding it in the schools of the state? Christianity is 
the salt of the earth, and is intended for the whole 
world. The public schools are institutions that ought 
to enjoy its flavor. Suffer the little ones to come 
imto me. \Mien St. Paul, the great missionary, car- 
ried the Gospel to the nations, the very first place he 



True Education Benefits All. 395 

taught it was in their schools. Christ evidently wants 
the Bible taught in all places of His dominion, else 
He would not have commanded His disciples to 
preach the Gospel to all the world, 'teaching them to 
•observe all things He commanded them.' No person 
or place is excepted. The Bible is God's gift to the 
w^hole world, and all have equal rights to enjoy its 
instructions. He therefore who denies it to any place 
-or individual in the whole world, runs counter to 
Christ's highest commands and authority. You want 
to deny the flavor of Christianity to five-sixths of all 
the children in the country, and confine it to one- 
sixth. 

Well, you say that the state and church must be 
kept strictly separate, and for this reason the state 
has no right to teach morals or the Bible in its schools. 
Where will you go with the church, in order to sepa- 
rate it strictly from the state? You will necessarily 
have to go out of the world, for there is no human 
society in the world, but what is under the protection 
•of some kind of civil government, that constitutes 
the state. True, the church is an invisible, spiritual 
kingdom as to its essence, but it is established in the 
hearts of men by external means, which are properly, 
as the opposition itself admits, under the control of 
the state. For the main object of the state is to pro- 
tect its citizens in the free use of all their external 
goods and privileges. By this strict separation the 
^authorities in the external government of the church 
would have to govern it without touching any ex- 
ternal thing whatever, for all external things are 



396 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

properly under the supervision and jurisdiction of the 
temporal power. Thus this argument of a strict sepa- 
ration of church and state is shown to be absurd. 
The interests of church and state interlap each other 
and cannot be strictly separated without mjury to 
both. 

It must be admitted that the church in its exter- 
nal and worldly relations and interests is subject to 
the state. 'Put them in mind to be subject to princi- 
palities and powers, to obey magistrates." Titus 3, i. 
And to the Romans 13, i, Paul says: 'Let every soul 
be subject unto the hioher power.' In the same place 
he teaches that worldly powers are ordained of God, 
and those who resist them, 'shall receive to themselves 
damnation.' He tells us that worldly rulers are 'the 
ministers of God for good,' and 'avengers to execute 
wrath upon him that doeth evil.' 'Wherefore,' he 
concludes, 'ye must needs be subject, not only for 
wrath, but also for conscience sake.' Jesus said to 
Pilate : 'Thou couldst have no power at all against 
me ; except it were given thee from above.' John 
19, II. We are even required to suffer wrongfully, 
I Pet. 2, 19, rather than resist God's ordinance. These 
are plain passages, from which we learn that the ex- 
ecutive powers vested in the rulers of the worldly gov- 
ernment, constitute the higher powers on earth, and 
have full jurisdiction over all external relations and 
affairs of mankind. 

Then, if this power is so high that we are obliged 
to suffer wrong for conscience sake at their hands, 
how much the more ouqht we to be subject to them 



True Education Benefits All. 397 

when they exercise their power for our teniporal 
welfare? 'He is the minister of God to thee for good.' 
This Scripture teaches that the state is ordained and 
instituted by God Himself for the express purpose 
to promote the good and welfare of its citizens. And 
since it is the highest power and authority in things 
external, it certainly must therefore have the right 
to make use of all tangible means within its reach, to 
promote its own chief end, the welfare of all its peo- 
ple. Among such tangible means subject to its 
power and use, is unquestionably the Bible and 
moral training. States and rulers have misused their 
powers, by proscribing the Bible and forbidding its 
use among the people, and have transgressed the 
sphere of civil government. For the governing 
power rests in the consent of the governed, by the ar- 
rangements of Providence. The main end of the 
state, the liberty of the subject, the sanctity of private 
property, and the rights of conscience, warn the state, 
thus far shalt thou go, and no farther. Each person 
has a right to the fullest exercise of all his faculties 
in harmony with the same rights in others. The state 
is the protector of its people. It must protect their 
rights by punishing their wrongs. It must protect 
the freedom of speech and the liberty of the press, 
by suppressing and punishing infamous and scanda- 
lous expressions and indecent publications. It must 
make the proper regulations to protect commerce, 
popular education, manufactories, the currency and 
religion, in such a way that the common good of all 
may be promoted. It is in the sphere of the state 



398 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

to reduce all real hindrances to every good object to 
a minimum. To this end it must compel all parents 
to educate their children and provide means for this. 
purpose, it must regulate and improve all employ- 
micnts dangerous to public health, it must foster effi- 
ciency in the various public professions and occupa- 
tions, it must protect all the necessaries to support 
life from counterfeit and excessive consumption and 
useless waste, and not license or protect, but put 
do^vn all gambling, prostitution and gross corrup- 
tion. 

It is not in the sphere of the civil government to 
make rights, prosperity and fortunes, nor to cripple 
them, for these are all created and come from a higher 
source, but it must protect them, and enable their 
Dossessors to employ them to the best advantage to 
all concerned. The civil government, to accomplish 
its own chief end, must support schools and religious 
education as subordinate means to this end. It is to 
be a nursing father and mother to the church accord- 
ing to Scriptures. Is. 49, 22. 2^ : 60, 3. 4. Earthly 
rulers are Christ's representatives, for 'He is the Prince 
of the kings of the earth,' Rev. i, 5. in His particular 
providence, of which IMoses, who 'was king in Jeshu- 
rum,' was a type, Deut. 33, 5, when he bore God's 
people 'as a nursing father beareth the sucking child,* 
Xum. II, 12, which he describes in Deut. 2;^, 2"/ : 'The 
eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are ^he 
everlasting arms.' The moral responsibility or capac- 
ity of the state is based upon that will which gave 
it an existence, and 'maketh his sun to rise on the 



True Education Benefits All. 899* 

evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just 
and on the unjust.' Matt. 5, 45. Therefore the state 
goes beyond its sphere in forbidding any good object 
or useful means, for it has no moral right whatever 
to exercise its power to prevent the good and useful. 

The church is within the state, and subject to 
the state in all its visible manifestation and interests. 
In these things the church and state must co-operate,, 
and can never be separated or stand aloof and inde- 
pendent of each other. God is the author of both^ 
and has so interlocked them into each other by their 
mutual interests, that neither can exist and prosper 
without the other. 'What God hath joined together, 
let not man put asunder.' God works through both 
to accomplish His good and wise designs. 

To prevent all unjust persecution by the state, 
this government was established in reference to the 
liberty of conscience, granting every one the liberty 
to worship God according to the dictates of his own 
conscience, without any interference from the state 
or any other source. And the state protects, fosters 
and supports the free exercise of these rights, be- 
cause the state was instituted as a minister of good 
and a terror to evil, and because the state recognizes 
that it is to its own welfare and security, to foster the 
Christian religion, for it knows that good Christians 
make good citizens. The state must have a founda- 
tion, and the foundation of civil society is good con- 
duct, the obedient adherence to good laws and order. 
Inasmuch as the state cannot exist otherwise, its first 
duty is to lay down those principles of good gov- 



400 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

ernment in the hearts of its citizens, to teach them to 
the young, who must constitute the future pillars of 
the state. And this foundation also belongs to the 
Church, that no one is to be forced to believe anything, 
or to conform to any worship contrary to the dictates 
of his own conscience. Hence the conscience must 
first be informed as to the truth. This shows that 
state and church have the same foundation, and that 
their origin springs from one and the same mind. 
Without information and education they can be no 
good members of either church or state. And the 
state finds that religious education is the best means 
it can use to promote its own main end — good gov- 
ernment. 

The church has its own external government in 
its own hands, but it is held in check by the state 
from all bodily chastisements and slanderous perse- 
cution. If it were not for this arrangement, the many 
opposing religious sects in this country would con- 
stantly be persecuting each other. And this is all 
our fathers meant by the separation of church and 
state, that both should have each their own rulers 
and governors, elected by their own respective sub- 
jects, and that persecution for conscience sake was 
forever to cease. 

The passage : 'Render unto C?esar the ihings 
that are Csesar's, and unto God the things that are 
God's,' does not advocate a strict separation of church 
and state, but combines them in promoting the exer- 
cise of the same duty and responsibility. Two high 
authorities are referred to, God and Caesar, and all 



True Education Benefits All. 401 

are to render to each their dues. To Caesar belongs 
the honor and assistance necessary to carry on the 
government of the state. The word Caesar means 
the authority and executor of the civil government, 
which power and authority he holds under God by 
the consent of the people. Hence, when we obey 
earthly rulers, we obey God Himself, who has con- 
manded us to be subject unto them. But there are 
some things which God did not place subject to 
€arthly lords and rulers, but has reserved unto Him- 
self. For this reason the words 'Render unto God 
the things that are God's,' apply to all worldly rulers 
and potentates, lords and powers, whether of the 
state or church. They shall not take unto themselves 
the things that belong to God. No one, no class or 
condition of men is free from the command, it comes 
to all and every one alike : 'Render unto God the 
things that are God's.' 

What are the things that God's? Certainly, all 
we have and hope to be are His, and we are required 
to render them up to His command and service. 
With our hearts, souls and lives we are to serve God, 
by serving each other in truth, love' and righteous- 
ness. And this command is perfectly just and reason- 
able. It is our reasonable service. And from this 
service the civil government and its rulers are not 
excluded. They too must render service, power and 
honor due unto Him, whose Providence shapes the 
ends and destinies of empires. The rulers of this 
world must rule so that their ruling will be a real 
service of God. They must be a protection and refuge 



402 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

for the poor and innocent, the help of the helpless, 
and a check and punishment against the strong and 
wealthy as arrayed against the weak. 

Xow, how can you call that a service of God, when 
the earthly ruler banishes the Bible and all moral 
training from the schools of the country, and substi- 
tutes the false notions of worldly and selfish ambition 
in their stead ? Xor can worldly rulers find any peace 
of conscience in neutrality, for the voice of conscience 
and of God thunders over their recreant heads : 
'Render unto God the things that are God's" Christ 
has laid it down for them line upon line as their prin- 
ciple of action : 'He that is not with me is against me, 
and he that gathereth not with with me, scattereth 
abroad !' ]\Iatt. 12, 30. Hence, the whole principle, 
that denies to the civil government the right to intro- 
duce moral religious instruction and training 
into its public schools, by which the coming genera- 
tions maybe taught the laws of human conduct, whose 
violation the State severely punishes, is contrary to 
common sense, treason to the government and rebel- 
lion against God. 

It is further claimed by the opposition, that the 
Bible is out of place in the public schools, because it 
is intended to teach us spiritual things, and the public 
school is intended merely to teach things that pertain 
to this world. True, the Bible is to teach us spiritual 
things, but it cannot do this without external worldly 
means. We must even lead. our spiritual life in this 
external world, in the most intimate connection with 
our secular life. Hence, the book called the Bible» 



True Education Benefits All. 403 

also consists of secular and material affairs. It 
teaches the true principles of all human governments, 
gives us the proper directions for every good calling 
in this world, and the greater bulk of its teachings 
necessarily belong and refer more to secular affairs, 
and is occupied more with the things of this world, 
than with the next. The Bible is a book like every 
other book, so far as its external form is concerned, 
it is made up entirely of earthly materials, and con- 
structed wholly and solely in an earthly mould. Even 
its highest spiritual thoughts are expressed in art 
earthly language, and wafted to us on earthly strains, 
of vocal and instrumental music ; even the holy sacra- 
ments have their earthly element. 

'Yes,' you answer, 'we are in the world but not 
of the world. We must use the world as not abus- 
ing it.' And here the opposition asks: 'Is it not an 
abuse bordering on blasphemy, to mix our heavenly 
devotions and prayers with our plays and games, our 
lessons on spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic ; 
with the daily routine of business and secular affairs? 
Does not familiarity breed contempt? Do not our 
spiritual interests and hopes become stale and fiat, by 
bringing them down to the level of the trifling things 
of this life, that are passing away like the clouds? 
And is it proper to have them mixed up with the levity 
of youth, and have them characterized in burlesque, 
and ridiculed in every travesty of exaggeration? It 
requires a fine, decent and respectable outward bear- 
ing and bodily preparation, for the honor and respect 



404 Foi'jitalns of Streams aiid Public Schools. 

we owe to that presence, which demands the devotion 
of our hearts and the incense of our lips." 

We answer again in the words of Scripture: 
^Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye 
do. do all to the glon- of God." i Cor. lo, 31. Cer- 
tainly, whether we eat or sleep, play or work, or what- 
soever we do of the secular affairs of this life, our whole 
bodily life is to be an offering to the praise of Him 
who made and redeemed us. And as God has made 
this world and the tilings tliereof, and put us into it, 
the world and the things thereof are not to be de- 
spised. God made them all, and pronounced them 
good. They are His gifts, given to be used, and we 
must render an account for their use. It is God's 
will that we should lead a spiritual life amid the sec- 
ular affairs of this world ; that our whole lives, their 
joys and sorrows, their labors and recreations, should 
be devoted to His senice. In ever\-thing in which a 
Christian can occupy himself and his time, he is there- 
by serving God. Therefore it is God's will, and there 
can be no blasphemy about it, that we should *mix our 
heavenly devotions and prayers with our plays and 
games, om* lessons on spelling, reading, writing and 
arithmetic, and the daily routine of business and sec- 
ular affairs.' God wants us to perform ever\- external 
act bv a mind consecrated with holy thoughts, so that 
aU our thoughts on secular affairs be sanctified by 
His grace. A life pleasing to God is a life of serv-ice 
with and in the things of the world, for *God hath 
chosen the foolish things of the world to confound 
the wise : and God hath chosen the weak things of the 



True Education Benefits All. 405 

world to confound the mig-hty ; and base thing's of 
the world, and things which are despised, hath God 
chosen' for His service and honor, i Cor. i, 27. 28. 
And God did this, 'that no flesh might glory in His 
presence.' And it is just this world of the flesh with 
its afifections and lusts, that wants to exclude God, 
moral training and the Bible from our public schools, 
those that are zvise and mighty in their own conceit. 
So, whether we work or play, whether sick or poor, 
or well and rich, weak or strong-, whether extreme 
pain or the greatest joy overtake us, under all circum- 
stances and relations in life, God's Word must go with 
us to cheer, comfort and strengthen us. The words 
of God are our guide in life. 'Thou shalt teach them 
diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them 
when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walk- 
est by the way, and when thou liest down, and when 
thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign 
upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between 
thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the 
posts of thy house, and on thy gates.' Deut. 6, 7-9. 
True, it is, that the blessings of heaven are often 
abused by the children and their teachers in their 
frailties, and often in their maliciousness. But if the 
Bible and moral training are inappropriate on this 
account in the public schools, then they would also 
have to be forbidden on the same ground in all schools. 
The corrupt human nature wall break out in unbecom- 
ing talk, indecent words, and conduct in church 
schools as well as in public schools. And there 
is no church or altar, that is not desecrated 



40t) Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

and abused by the presence of Satan and .hypo- 
crites among the sons of God, offering up the pray- 
ers and praises of a sham devotion. There is no 
perfect praise and devotion, free from ah fauhs and 
fraihies. amidst the children of God on earth. 

On the contrary, there is no place more appro- 
priate to teach the A\'ord, or where it is more needed, 
than where human frailty manifests itself without any 
attempt to gloss it over with the cimning deceit of 
spiritual pride and false piety. Into such places Christ 
Himself went for the express purpose of teaching the 
grace and loving kindness of a heavenly Father, in 
order that they might be instructed and informed of a 
better way. If the Gospel were not intended for the 
poor in spirit and the lowly, for the harlot and drunk- 
ard, for the centurion and ruler of his people, for the 
self-righteous Pharisee and thief on the cross, Christ 
would not have preached it unto them in person. 
The Gospel is intended to go forth and consecrate all 
the relations of life, and sanctify them with the knowl- 
edge of God and eternal life, to turn the children of 
men from the service of sin to the powers of a world to 
come. It is not needed among the would be righteous. 
Christ declares: T am not come to call the righteous, 
but sinners to repentance." ^latt. 9, 13. 'They that 
be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.' 
V. 12. Hence, the Gospel is for the very purpose of 
promotiiig decency among the indecent, true de- 
votion among the licentious and unconstrained, order 
amid confusion, a godly life and the hope of heaven, 
ere all is lost, never to hope again. But how can the 



True Education Benefifs All. 407 

Gospel do this, unless it is taught there ? And there is 
no other power on earth able to accomplish a true 
moral reformation, except the power of the Word. 

To say that familiarity breeds contempt, is di- 
rected against the Bible and Christianity in general. 
This argument puts on nice clothes on Sunday, takes 
hymn and prayer-book to church, listens to the ser- 
mon and joins in the devotion and greets all the breth- 
ren with a feigned external courtesy of good manners ; 
and yet without remorse or regret, goes to the saloon 
and gets drunk, quarrels with his wife, fights with his 
neighbors, dances with the harlot and feasts with the 
debaucher, all on Solomon's plea, that there is time 
for everything under the sun. On the contrary, there 
is no time appointed for the purpose of doing wrong, 
but we are 'ahvays to have a conscience void of of- 
fence,' Acts 24, 16, and 'watch ye, therefore, and pray 
alzvays,' Luke 21, 36, is our Lord's command. Every 
vice and wrong is a sin against time, makes the times 
evil, and is a violation of sacredness. 

The proverb : Familiarity breeds contempt, is 
not spoken of and does not refer to virtue, much less 
to the Word of God itself. It is false, a slander and 
blasphemy, to say that the Bible breeds contempt, 
though we are reminded of it every hour. The good 
Word of God has the powers of the world to come, 
it is sweeter than honey or the honey comb, more preci- 
ous than fine gold, for it rejoiceth the heart and en- 
lightens the eyes. It is like a garden full of various 
fruit-bearing trees, where every tree is loaded with a 
harvest more precious than all the harvests of the 



408 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

kings and queens of earth. It is no more possible for 
the Bible to breed contempt than it is for heaven to 
become wearisome to the blessed spirits, its pleasures 
loathsome, or the throne of God to fail. 

The Church has its main appointed end, which 
is to bring souls to eternal life. The main end of the 
State is good civil government. Both have in their 
employment to obtain their main ends, the same sub- 
ordinate ends as means, in which they both reach out 
into the same relations of society, and inter- and over- 
lap each other. And yet the State must have its 
government free from the control of priestcraft and 
the domination of church oiihcials, and the Church 
must have its spiritual government and external con- 
trol to itself, free from Statecraft with all its harassing 
interference and persecution. God gave His Word 
to both, to use it for their divinely appointed ends ; to 
the Church to save souls and to the State to influence 
legislation and make good citizens. The same tree 
that affords material for the fire, affords the same 
material to build the house. Instead of a blazing 
hearthfire on a cold winter's night, and a comfortable, 
warm house, only fools prefer to comfort themselves 
with the ashes of desolation, and the nakedness and 
starvation of savages. We protest, and raise up holy 
hands of indignation against tlie effort to tear down 
the pleasant structures of Christian civilization, to over- 
throw our altars and our fires, to plunge our country, 
its liberties and future prospects, and the generations 
to come into the gulf of disaster and ruin, and all its 
happiness into the depths of woe." 



True Education Benefits All. 409* 

Several speakers of the opposition now followed 
each other in close succession, excited with much ani- 
mation and passionate discourse, repeating worn-out 
old arguments, without producing anything new.. 
They had recourse to ridicule and comical expressions, 
aad attempted to bury up unanswerable arguments 
under the rubbish of their bluster, raillery and prac- 
tical jokes ; and thus, by exciting the audience to 
laughter, sought to outwit their opponents and make 
it appear as though they came ofif victorious. At 
length, having exhausted their breath, they quieted 
down and appeared to rest on their laurels. 

Then the former speaker in favor of the Bible in 
the public schools arose, and introduced the last: 
speaker and the last reply. When the audience heard, 
his name (for only a few were aware of his presence), 
they were surprised and rejoiced, for his reputation 
as an orator and public speaker was world wide, and 
was known and recognized as of the very highest 
standing in the legal profession, and distinguished 
alike for his fairness and integrity. Without once re- 
ferring to the aspersions and blunders of the opposi- 
tion, he calmly but with an unyielding grasp of logic, 
laid down the unchanging principle of justice and 
right, governing Church and State, with reference to 
the subject in dispute. This is what he said : 

''Ladies and Gentlemen! — The origin of evil 
arises from the infraction of a law which refers man to^ 
a Supreme and single will. Man fell, because he was 
not satisfied to be governed by a will outside of him- 
self, as the ultimate ground, reason or decisive rule 



41'j Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

for all his acts, but sought this rule in himself, and 
made himself judge of its nature. This is what de- 
ranged all the moral destinies of the entire human race. 
and establishes as many different rules of government 
as there will be human beings. 

When man obeyed God. man had his whole being 
under his own control, but as soon as he disobeyed 
he lost this self-control, and had no power any longer 
to be master of himself. And man will never be able 
to master himself, to possess that internal consent and 
harmony of all his thoughts in purpose and action, 
so essential to his peace, until he has the divine will 
he so madly repudiated, again enthroned over his 
^vhole heart, to rule all his thoughts and acts. The 
law of human conduct before the fall was out of man's 
self and centered in God : after the fall, it was in man's 
self and out of God. [Man had a sense of right and 
^\Tong. but this sense he did not base on the will of 
God, but on his own understanding. This is the 
prolifiic source of derangement, of separate self and in- 
dependent action, exerted only to pervert the designs 
of God's universe. 

The ordinary relations within the human race in- 
dependent and in opposition to God's sovereign \\*ill, 
has always been the hostility of one against the other. 
On the other hand, a life of common uniformity 
-dampens selhshness. and extends a softening influ- 
ence over all social relations. So domestic and civil 
organizations restrain this self-directing principle. A 
portion of man's individual life becomes by associa- 
tion subject to laws and conditions of a more common 



True Education Benefits All. 411 

life, and so far it ceases to serve the selfish principle, 
and is released from its power. Man's individual life 
enters under a law which has its source and center 
outside of the mind of the individual, and does not 
■chiefly consult his single and independent advantage. 
So far as common life prevails, there is a surrender 
•of individual life, determined by every man's own will. 
Thus by taking something away from self, man may be 
prepared to restore it unto God and His purposes. 
Wherever this principle of common life strongly pre- 
vails among all, men have prospered, and where it has 
been weak, men have degenerated. Association sets 
forth our duties to others, it establishes a common 
law of life for all, independent and outside of the indi- 
vidual, and binds up our affections among each other, 
and directs them to the common good of all. God has 
made man a social being, and has established to this 
end the domestic, the religious and national func- 
tions of association. Even our spiritual trend finds a 
home in the communion of saints. 

Without human society, a lone individual would 
be entirely wanting in the elements of moral agency 
or responsibility. For v/e can exercise our love even 
to God, at most only through our neighbors. There- 
fore the state as an external human society has been 
instituted and endowed with power to promote the 
good and prevent the evils of society. The state is 
the depository and safeguard of the best, purest and 
truest portions of common life ; it is the realized 
unity of the people made active ; it is the self-govern- 
ing energy of the people made objective. It pro- 



412 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

hibits. prevents and punishes the wrong, and approves 
and rewards the right. It brings down the chain of 
order into society from the throne of God. Whea 
everv individual is subject to pubhc authority, and 
the pubhc authority is subject to fixed and stable 
laws of the unchanging God, then this pattern of the 
state fits into the arrangements of Providence, and 
derives its power from Him. Its power is then re- 
sistless, its justice uniform, without respect of per- 
sons, exercising its law of discipline and punishment. 

Every state is an index to the characters and 
conditions of its people. The state is a moral in- 
stitution, for its laws and the acts done under them 
are connected with the formation of moral habits^ 
modes of thought, the state of the affections, and its 
influence pervades the whole system of our earthly 
existence. Its laws cover the same ground as morals,, 
and it guides its course according to their dictates. 
Hence the law-makers must be instructed in moral 
science ; but this implies that they must also be en- 
lightened in religious principles, which is the only 
basis of moral science. 

But experience teaches us. that when state and 
church government are imited in one office, religion 
deteriorates in quality and church attendance becomes 
small. It is contrary to Scriptures to force church 
attendance by the power that wields the sword. God 
wants free-will service by persuasion and conviction^ 
and not by force. Even the expenditure of the pub- 
lic funds of the state to support any church organiza- 
tion, freezes up all the streams of private charity, and 



True Education Benefits All. 418 

in fact prevents greater contributions than it supplies, 
for it is wrong to compel by force, by tax or other- 
wise, the people to accept religious principles con- 
trary to conscience. Such a course can only produce 
hypocrites. In this case, the spirit which engendered 
individual liberty, is not the same which has called 
forth the contributions of the state. For this is the 
spirit of party and self-interest, and not the spirit of 
self-denial and self-abnegation. The state ought, 
therefore, to be organized with religious liberty, so 
far as worship and faith is concerned, but not to 
allow the infraction of the moral law with impunity, 
which requires submission to law outside of man. 

The form of a state is what men make it, and 
^he officers of the state are responsible only so far 
as their rights and privileges extend under the laws. 
In our state, the law gives it its character, which 
grants equal and religious freedom to all its citizens. 
It is evident from this very fact that our state can 
never in its representatives or otherwise, pose as an 
arbiter as to what is the true or false religion, or dis- 
countenance the religious worships of any of its citi- 
zens. From the object or end for which a state is 
designed, it cannot reach into the spiritual or reli- 
.^ious domain, but must strictly confine its responsi- 
bility to secular affairs. Hence it is the duty of the 
state to abolish all fanatical ceremonies or acts in- 
jurious to the health of its citizens, and welfare of the 
state ; because the secular life and welfare of its peo- 
ple is properly under its jurisdiction. 

Now our citizens, who are the authors of the 



414 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

state, that is, of its peculiar form and character, are 
opposed to each other on religion. But this feature 
of religious opposition is taken away from the char- 
acter of our state, and instead of such opposition it 
is furnished with the attribute of toleration, and pro- 
tection, and thus by making such a state, all citizens 
do each other the favor which secures to them all a 
good neighborhood, religious and political liberty, by 
uniting their strength together to support such a state 
that yields to every one this great benefit. 

The question is, whether this scheme, this attri- 
bute of toleration in a state, is inconsistent and faulty 
as to moral considerations ? Can a Christian who 
exercises the voluntary functions or will of the state, 
do so without staining his moral consciousness, when 
in protecting religious liberty, he protects a religion 
which is false and obnoxious to him? But this also 
involes taxpayers in general. 

AMiat an ofificer does who executes the law, is 
not his own personal Avill. but the will of the state, 
and the responsibility rests mainly on the state, and 
hence equally on all its citizens. Besides, he does not 
personally support or protect the false religion, but 
onlv the liberty to worship according to the dictates 
of conscience, and he is in no wise responsible for 
another's false conscience. God is not the cause of 
evil, yet He permits it. and protects its authors in 
the enjoyment of their secular rights and privileges. 
Yet He does not mean to sanction their wickedness : 
He only protects that which is good in them. His 
own work, their lives, property and welfare. It is 



True Education Benefits All. 415 

impossible for a secular ruler to act otherwise. For 
the jurisdiction of the state extends only over ex- 
ternal and secular affairs, and must leave the motives 
and intents of the heart to the Judge of all. 

The governor of a state is expected with a good 
conscience to exercise in full the functions of his 
office, which are the functions of the state, but can 
and dare not go beyond these limits. The limits of 
the function of the state is, by force to prevent mani- 
fest and open wrong and injury on the one hand, and 
to support whatever proves beneficial to the common 
weal on the other. Now, if the state had an estab- 
lished religion, its officers would be conscientiously 
bound so to support and extend it, as to discipline 
all who publicly dissent and reject it, which results 
in tyranny, intolerance and persecution. 

Government as treated in Holy Scriptures, has 
two parts ; that of persuasion, and that of force. Man, 
as a depraved being, rebellious and stubborn in his 
nature, requires force ; as a being endowed with in- 
telligence and affections, he requires persuasion. 
These are the elements necessary to his discipline. 
The first leads by force unwillingly, the other will- 
ingly by persuasion. These two leading principles 
or functions inhere and combine in the idea of all 
civil government; neither can be sufficiently effective 
without the other. The one works upon the internal 
man by external means, the other upon the external 
man by internal means, and thus by their integra- 
tion cannot exist without each other. Although these 
two processes of government interlap or run into each 



416 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

other, nevertheless in their very nature or character 
they always have been separate and distinct in them- 
selves, even when exercised by the same individual, 
as among the patriarchs and kings of old and all 
parents. As these two are public functions or pro- 
cesses, so the state and the church as here treated, 
are both public institutions, although both aim to 
promote private and individual, as well as public in- 
terests. 

In the Jewish state these two functions were 
miited in one ofhce, and conferred upon the same 
individual. But the Xew Testament presupposes 
their exercise by different persons working independ- 
ently of each other, so that the officers of the state 
should be free and independent from the officers of 
the church, and those of the church govern it with 
perfect freedom from state-craft and interference. To 
the church, the Savior commits only the persuasive 
element, yet He endows her with it in a pre-eminent 
degree, and in its widest range. For as He is espe- 
cially the embodiment and manifestation of divine 
love. He declares that He came not to destroy by 
force, but to bring all to life by persuasion. His 
kingdom then does not come by outward observation, 
for it does not consist of anv visible element of this 
world of change and time. 

This separate public exercise of these different 
functions does not argue that the fullest exercise of 
only one of these functions would be sufficient alone 
and of itself, to create the best and happiest condi- 
tion for social life. On the contrary, they belong to- 



True Ediication Beneiits All. 417 

gether, neither can do without the other. For all 
men are so constituted, that at times they must be 
led by compulsion, they will not always be led by 
persuasion. And as the very nature of the Christian 
religion is to lead by persuasion, it expressly leaves 
to the state the exercise of force or temporal power, 
as a terror to evil doers, and to protect them that do 
well. This spirit of reciprocity impregnates the whole 
scheme of civil government with a solid Christian 
sentiment and principle, that gives it a stability, 
and renders it more permanent. For general his- 
tory shows that the acknowledgment of the religious 
principle is a condition of permanence in any political 
system, and as soon as this principle is abolished, just 
that soon will the social energies become weak, relax 
and tend toward their dissolution. The Jewish and 
all heathen states date their downfall from the time 
their religion began to give way and relax its hold 
on the social energies of the people, and as long as 
they held together in the religion, so long their state 
continued permanent and steadfast. This proves that 
tne religious principle acts like a cement in the social 
compact of the state, and gives it a tenacity that makes 
it permanent. Gibbon, the historian, alleges, that 
*the politicians of antiquity embodied religion in civil 
forms, only on account of its convenience for the 
purpose of government.' 

Therefore it has been deemed fit by the highest 
councils and wisdom of our government, that its acts 
require to be sanctified by a public worship. Hence 
the meetings of the federal legislatures are opened by 



418 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

prayer, offered in rotation either by a Presbyterian, 
Lutheran, Methodist, or any other Christian min- 
ister. That this heterogeneous worship does not sat- 
isfy the demands of the Word in Eph. 4, 4, which pro- 
claims the doctrine of 'one body, and one spirit, even 
as ye are called in one hope of your calling,' the legis- 
lature is not responsible. For it cannot make that 
'one body,' or bring it about with all its power and 
wisdom. Persecution can force an external union, 
but this is not that 'one body' to which the apostle 
refers ; he refers to the union of hearts and the unity 
of the Holy Spirit, that 'all speak the same thing, and 
that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye 
be perfectly joined together in the £ame mind and 
in the same judgment.' i Cor. i, 10. Yet the 
acknowledgment of the Christian religion is thereby 
only rendered the more conspicuous, that civil so- 
ciety and government cannot exist without a divine 
Providence, who Himself in His government of the 
world permits these very things, indirectly shields 
and throws the mercy of His general protection over 
them. Our human state is then simply a pattern 
after the divine, and a means of Providence. For in 
preserving that which is good, the evil which God 
Himself does not prevent, and which is beyond all 
human power to eradicate, must be permitted, or 
else there could, from the very nature of things, be 
no free will in external matters, Avhich man cannot 
destroy, while God grants and preserves it. 

The individual citizen has acquitted his con- 
science when, according to its dictates, he has par- 



True Education Benefits All. 419 

ticipated in his right by vote to form the general 
sentence, which is ascertained and hmited by the 
privileges of the law. Whatever this sentence may 
be, the state cannot be blamed for a breach of trust, 
for tyranny, or a violation of the rights of conscience. 
The minority in the state is like the rejected alter- 
native in the deliberate judgment and decision of an 
individual. 

A free state may lend aid to assist religion by 
protecting its worshipers, by the adaptation of its laws, 
to the rules of religion, where the same subject mat- 
ter is within the sphere of both ; by the recognition 
of the church as one of the greatest forces in civil 
society, and making suitable provision for the pro- 
tection of all its external rights to property and privi- 
leges in worship, and by suppressing vice and crime. 
For discipline is necessary where men are combined 
for collective purposes, since there must be unity of 
rule in order to render co-operation possible and ef- 
fective. As God is not responsible for the abuse man 
makes of the freedom of his will, neither is the church 
or state responsible for the abuse man makes of his 
civil and religious liberties and privileges. 

The will, by its very essence or nature, by its own 
definition, cannot be forced ; for if a man's moral con- 
duct be practically brought under the dominion of 
force, the human being no longer has any real inter- 
nal freedom of his own. It is the sphere of the state 
to coerce its subjects to observe its own laws, by 
which vice and gross crimes are punished, which true 
religion also condemns, and thus the state lends a 



420 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

hand to assist in promoting a moral life, while it 
grants full toleration and protects religious privileges. 
-By virtue of his rational intelligence and free agency, 
•every man is entitled and bound in the sight of God 
to be in the last resort the arbiter of his own religious 
creed, subject to his own full responsibility for em- 
ploying the means most calculated to put him in pos- 
session of the truth. Xo human authority has any 
right to dictate what he must believe independently 
of his own will, or forcibly to interfere with it. So 
the charge is also imposed upon the state to deter- 
mine what convictions shall prevail within the circle 
of its own laws and public institutions, and the church 
enters this circle to advance and secure the existence 
and welfare of the state, by exercising a wholesome 
influences on all branches of the government. 

The visible church must be subject to the state, 
and regulate her temperalities so that she does not 
come into unnecessary conflict with its laws. The 
oath which all great office holders take, when they 
promise to discharge their obligations according to 
the Book on which they swear, is in itself a recogni- 
tion of abstract Christianity by the state, and operates 
as a security to the church. The powers which be- 
long to the church as a religious society, should be 
administered by her spiritual governors, but their 
authority reaches over sometimes into affairs of a 
compound nature, neither purely civil nor spiritual. 
The main end of the church is to save souls, but 
there are also subordinate ends as means to be used 



True Education BencHts All. 421 

to reach her main end, such as external property, re- 
lations and rights. 

The State must make such arrangements for its 
relations with the Church, so that neither within its 
own peculiar province be needlessly perplexed by the 
interference of the other. They should have a liberal 
confidence in each other, that they may freely submit 
to each the care of many collateral interests. If, 
however, the Church should come into collision with 
the laws established or being established by the State, 
it depends upon her own conscience to decide the 
issue upon its own merits, but her earthly condition 
does not require that her will must always be put into 
practical and immediate effect. But this is exactly 
what the existence of the State absolutely does require, 
for the maintenance of social order depends upon it. 
Should the Church be deprived of all her legal and ex- 
ternal privileges by the State, she still remains the 
Church, pursuading and admonishing the world. But 
the State must have compulsory power, or the key- 
stone of civil society is gone. 

It is the function of the State to secure society 
from destruction, by suppressing all disturbing forces ; 
and to this end it has full right to suppress all forces 
that come into collision with its own. It can limit 
the action of the Church by its own, and she must 
submit. For the State is the supreme coercive power 
on earth, and must finally rule in every disputed point 
in any way involving secular affairs upon its own re- 
sponsibility. Laws may be passed wholly incompatible 
in principle with the distinct external existence of the 



422 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

Church, and she must submit, as long as they do not 
mipair her essential powers. If the State would pre- 
vent synodical assemblies or parochial schools, it 
woud deprive the Church from some of her subord- 
inate ends or necessary means in accomplishing her 
main purpose, the salvation of souls. Here, the State 
would abuse its power, by using it for objects con- 
trary to those for which it was given, and the Church 
is free to obey God rather than man. And yet, even 
here, there may be cases in which it would be the duty 
of the state to interfere for the general welfare, and 
prevent Church meetings or conventions in case of 
contagious diseases, or to prevent any outbreak of 
hostilties or disorder, dangerous to life and property. 
The Church alone has the right to determine heresy, 
to settle the liturgy and articles of faith, independent 
of the State. The State has no right to move the 
Church in spiritual matters, or to make laws for 
Church government. 

Now the main object of civil government is co 
protect our persons and property, to compel us to 
satisfy our wants, not by fraud or theft, but by industry, 
and to decide our differences by arbitration : to com- 
pel us to direct our combined strength against the 
common enemy of our countrv. For these purposes 
the State exists, and like all other corporations or asso- 
ciations, it will accomplish its main object best, by 
keeping it constantly and singly in view. In union 
there is strength. Therefore the State should admit 
only those to public trust, who are best qualified to 
promote its end. There are of course other ends 



True Education Benefits All. 423 

much more noble and far more excellent than what 
the State has in view. A person may be ever so well 
qualified for the promotion of other and more excel- 
lent objects, such as religion, education, science and 
the fine arts, and still may be wholly unqualified as a 
statesman. In fact his ability to promote these nobler 
objects most successfully, may disable him to direct 
his energies to that one object the State has in view. 
So the State will answer its own end best, when it is 
constructed with a single view to that end. Hence 
religion, education, science or the fine arts, ought 
never occupy the place which constitutes the main end 
for which the State is organized. 

To explain, the sword has been placed into the 
hands of the State to punish the evil doer. If now the 
armies of a State are to accomplish their purpose, 
they must be organized under the direction of one 
master mind, to obtain complete unity of action and 
implicit obedience. They must move against the foes 
as one man. Thus there is a tremendous power and 
awful responsibility intrusted to one man, who is the 
commander of the entire army. Now if the State 
would establish religion or science as one of the chief 
ends of its organization, to be consistent, it will have 
to make it imperatively necessary that all its people 
in their collective capacity must agree in that religion 
or science, and those who do not thus agree, they may 
be ever so well qualified as rulers and commanders, 
from the fact that they disagree on the main issues, 
they would have to be excluded from control, and 
the less qualified will be appointed. But if no re- 



424 Fountaiv.s of Streams and Public Schools. 

ligion, for instance, is established by the State, then 
each one is left to worship according to his own form, 
and when the battle begins all these different wor- 
shipers will act as one man. Otherwise, if the State 
has adopted a religion, the very best generals and sol- 
diers who dissent from it, must be excluded from the 
army, for fear they might create dissension in the 
ranks, and destroy that combined action necessary to 
victory. 

It is as absurd to mix up religion as an end of pur- 
suit, in any combination organized solely for secular 
purposes, as it would be for a general immediately be- 
fore the hour of battle, to institute a controversy in 
the right wing of his army against the left wing, about 
purgatory or the worship of images, or aboiu any 
theory in science, if that were made the main end of 
the State. That State is always more apt to go wrong 
tnan right, that proposes religion as one of its chief 
ends. As the main characteristic of the State is force, 
it is not qualified to propagate religion as one of its 
main ends. If ever so well qualified to propagate the 
temporal ends of its institution, that does not qualify 
it to propagate the main object of the Church. The 
best rulers of this world were not as a rule also well 
qualified in theology. Those warrior kings, who were 
the best sovereigns of their country knew biu little 
divinity, yet they were able to restore order by putting 
down civil war and anarchy, establish the finances into 
an excellent condition, made their country respected 
throughout the world, and endeared themselves in the 
hearts of their countrvmen. Such were Henrv I\~ 



True Education Benefits All. 425 

of France, Peter the Great of Russia, Frederick the 
Great and many others. 

If the propagation of rehgious truth be a principal 
end of government, as government ; if it be its duty 
to employ its power for this purpose, then this power 
evidently developes into religious persecution. And 
if the relation of government to its people is a paternal 
one, then persecution is justifiable. For the right to 
propagate opinions by punishment belongs to parents 
with the undisputed right to instruct their own chil- 
dren. Parents are by nature peculiarly fitted to 
conduct the education of their children, which is 
a principal end of family government ; therefore 
parents are required to use force, and to punish 
their children, who are not capable to judge for 
themselves, and compel them to receive religious 
instruction and attend religious worship. But this 
paternal government does not belong to the civil 
magistrate, for if you employ civil force to propagate 
a mere opinion, you are bound to use punishment to 
that end. Now, if this be done, then the punishment 
must be just, and to be just it must be in proportion 
to the crime. The loss of one soul must then be pun- 
ished more severely than the murder of the body ; for 
all the murders committed would make a small sum 
compared to the number of souls lost in the snares of 
false teachers. These wolves in sheep's clothing do 
infinitely more evil than the murderer, and yet they 
are not as proper objects of legal punishment as the 
murderer, because it is not the natural end of govern- 
ment to guard against this evil. A mother who stops. 



426 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

up the passage on the sidewalk with her baby carriage 
is arrested and taken into custody ; while the million- 
aire who suffers his trusty old servant and benefactor 
to eke out a wretched living and finally to die in the 
poorhouse, dare not be brought before any court for 
his baseness and ingratitude. Whose conduct is the 
worse,, the mother's or the millionaire's? Certainly the 
millionaire's. But it is in the legitimate sphere of the 
civil government to punish the woman for blockading 
the public walk, and protect such walk to the free use 
of the public ; but it is not in the sphere of the civil 
government to punish any one for the much greater 
evil of covetousness, heartlessness and ingratitude. 
Treason against the civil government is punished with 
death, but the government dare not punish the traitor 
who robs Almighty God of His glory and gives it to 
an image or beast. The government is appointed to 
punish robbers and criminals ; it is not appointed to 
propagate or exterminate any religious doctrine or 
system or theory of science. 

Yet, it does by no means follow from this, that 
civil government ought never promote any other end 
that that which is naturally its main and chief end. 
It ought to promote any good end, when it can do so 
without sacrificing' any power or force necessary to 
attain its own end. The promotion of the fine arts is 
not the main end of civil government. The civil gov- 
ernment is not organized for the purpose of educating 
sculptors, painters or scientific scholars. Yet, some- 
times the government has resources at its command 
to enable it to serve these subordinate ends much more 



True Education Benefits All. 427 

efficiently than private nidividuals or any private asso- 
ciation, without suffering any injury in promoting its 
own main end. Such are journeys and voyages for 
geographical, botanical and geological discoveries and 
astronomical observations, the publication of archives, 
the collection of libraries, menageries, plants, fossils, 
antiquities and picture galleries, which are all sub- 
ordinate to the main end of civil government, as gov- 
ernment. No well informed person will dispute, that 
the civil government ought to promote and encourage 
all such good objects, which do not conflict or in any 
way encumber its efficiency in promoting its own 
chief end. 

Much more. ought it to promote every means use- 
ful in accomplishing its own end. The improvement 
of fire arms and navigation, for instance, are not the 
main objects of government. But firearms and large 
vessels are very useful and necessary for national de- 
fense, and ships are necessary to carry on commerce 
with other nations. Hence it is the duty of the gov- 
'ernment to encourage mventors, because it tends 
directly to strengthen the power of the State and to 
promote its main end. Education is also a subord- 
inate end, yet it is a powerful means in promoting the 
chief end, especially of a free civil government like 
ours. And as the civil government is established on 
the moral law, and is preeminently a moral institution, 
education in the principles of morality common to all 
Christians, is highly valuable and necesssary in ad- 
vancing the main end of civil government. And the 
State that advances religious instruction and promotes 



428 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

it as a secondary end, though essentially far more im- 
portant than its own primary end, can certainly thereby 
assist in making good citizens, and thereby promote its. 
own efficiency to attain its own end. 

Yet, if the State would make religious instruction 
its principal object, the most absurd and pernicious 
consequences would follow. Xo State ought to im- 
pose religions instruction upon the people in such a 
way as to excite dicontent and disorder, thereby en- 
dangering its owm chief end. To secure the people 
from heresy by making their lives, limbs and property 
insecure, the State would thereby sacrifice its own 
primary end to a secondary end. This would be as 
absurd as it would be for the governor of a hospital to- 
give orders, that the wounds of all Protestant patients 
should be dressed in such a way as to make them fester, 
or cause blood poison. Persecution is the result of 
spiritual pride, by which Lucifer fell from heaven ; it 
is a vice destructive to humanity, and cannot be de- 
fended by any principles of right and justice, whether 
by the State, subordinate associations or individuals. 
If the State would use its power to make proselytes, 
it would ruin all those interests for the promotion of 
which civil government primarily exists. 

From these principles it follows as a consquence, 
that it is the duty of the State to protect the free use 
of the Bible, and that it is bound to provide and grant 
every appropriate opportunity for its instruction and 
exercise. Hence, our ciA'il government has by its laws 
acknowledged the Bible as an authority and the rock 
and foundation of its entire building. The Bible, 



True Education Benefits All. 429 

therefore, has and must have free access into all the 
branches and departments of the government, and 
'especially in the public schools, to sanctify the minds 
of children with its mild and soothing influences, and 
thus mould their characters into good citizens. 

For the first and immediate object for which the 
Bible was given to the world to accomplish, is true 
repentance and faith as the basis of a good moral 
character and godly life ; which, as a subordinate end, 
must first be accomplished, and is absolutely neces- 
sary in order to attain its main or chief end." 



o 



THE END. 

!$ ^ ^ 

VER forty years have come and gone since Lil- 
lian returned to Fountains of Streams and Roll- 
ing Meads. Those Avho have experienced the flight 
of years, and have noted the changes produced by- 
time, will be able at once to recognize the great change 
since forty years in any neighborhood of their ac- 
quaintance. During this long period nearly all the 
old buildings have become so dilapidated and deca}ed. 
so unsafe, unserviceable and out of joint, that they 
have nearly all been remodeled, and built into new 
and more stately and substantial modern structures ; 
except here and there you happen upon an old famil- 
iar cottage or Duilding, pleading pathetically under its 
moss-covered roof and crumbling ruins. Xew roads 
have been built, and the city now covers miles, where 
the village formerly only covered acres. 

Your old time companions, once so fresh and 
blooming, have their brows wrinkled with the furrows 
of age, their cheeks are shrunken and pale, and their 
heads are covered with the white flowers of the grave. 
The change at once so real and cruelly abrupt, bewilders 
the mind with one surprise after the other, until you 
can scarcely believe your own eyes. The playmates 
of your childhood, fresh as the morning, rosy as 
the dawn, bright and shining as the flowers, and 
merry and cheerful with life and music, like gay 
songsters amid sweetly scented bushes and flow- 



The End. 431 

ering groves, that sing their lives away in sweet- 
ness, are Hke strangers from a foreign land. You 
oDserve them closely, and try to trace some of the old 
familiar features. You notice their voices, and at 
every touch of recognition your heart jumps and 
grows warm toward the creatures once so bright, so 
beautiful and cheerful as songsters from the bowers- 
of "auld lang syne." Here you meet the stalwart 
young man, the giant of former days, with only a few 
snags for teeth in his head and no hair on top of it, 
with his face as wrinkled and rough as the hide of a 
rhinoceros, hobbles up extending his long bony fingers 
and quavers out his congratulations. It is too much.. 
You are disturbed and all shaken to pieces inside. 
You have come to the very verge of lake despond, and 
are ready to fall into it, were it not for the cheerful 
meeting which revives the memories of other days, 
and makes you babble of green fields and many, many 
old friends and acquaintances gone, long since gone tO' 
to the fields of Elysium, where flowers bloom and. 
rivers flow with lasting delight. 

In the suburbs of Rolling Aleads to the north,, 
there stands a stately mansion, surrounded with ave- 
nues of evergreen foliage, interspersed with green 
lawns furnished with beautiful fountains and statues 
of marble and bronze, shady nooks, walks and drives, 
and the entire landscape is decorated with the richest 
and sweetest plants of the flowery realm. In autumn 
as you enter its precincts, and drive along the even 
way leading eastward, you pass orchards loaded with 
apples and peaches, and then come the rich pastures 



432 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

of clover and blue grass, stubble fields lately har- 
vested of their golden burdens, and then come waving 
fields of corn : and passing on. the road leads through 
the original forest protected from the cruel ravages 
of the hunter and the woodman's ax; turning north- 
ward, you look up and see the majestic arms of the 
old monarchs of the woods stretching themselves 
into the blue sky. and underneath it all you see the 
tangled wildwood and wild flowers. The saucy little 
squirrel skips over the branches and barks at you 
as you pass along, and you meet every variety of 
wild bird and wild fowl in their native element and 
forest home. The little bobwhite, unconcerned at 
your near approach, makes your ears ring with his 
loud familiar cry : you hear the beating and whirr of 
the pheasant, the notes of the brown thrush that rivals 
the nightingale with its song ; and the mocking bird, 
beyond all comparison the most proficient minstrel 
in all the world's feathered orchestra. Xow you pass 
down along the side of a steep hill into the forest 
valley, and the road then turns westward up along 
the winding stream, a mile through the woods before 
you reach the green meadows and cultivated fields, 
passing a little lake here in the forest and there an- 
other nestled amid rollino: downs and weeping wil- 
lows. 

Xow you draw in the reins of your steeds, and 
feast your eyes and ears on a scene, where nature's 
nurse seems to have exerted all her delicate powers, 
to display in profusion her charming loveliness. In 
the clear waters of the stream and the lakelets, re- 



The End. 433 

fleeting the blue sky, were the finny tribe sporting 
and roUing and shooting over the surface in a spray 
of white foam, through a bevy of ducks and geese, 
and old mother goose with her nestlings, teaching her 
goslings their first lessons on navigation. The gold 
and silver fish mixed in the jubilee, and the old 
gander took after the bass, as they cut the surface 
like a skyrocket, and made it look like a comet sprink- 
ling gold and silver from a majestic trail of brilliants. 
Then the quacking and gabbling and babbling in the 
waters and over the waters, and all around the waters, 
for the native duck took fright and sailed away from 
his domesticated kindred, filling the air with protests 
against the unquiet brood. And from beyond, in 
the thicket of wild roses and flowers that hedged in 
the waters with rich profusion on the other side, 
loading and purifying the air with their fragrance, 
could be heard the sweet and charming notes of the 
bobolink and robin redbreast, the oriole, and the blue 
bird's softly sweet and delicate warble, set off, as 
though beating the time for the whole orchestra, by 
the cheerful cheer of the pewee's homehke thriUing 
cry, as it sat perched on a post that rose above the 
noisy waterfall beneath. And the sunbeams were 
quivering over the waters, over the forest foliage, and 
over the green fields. In the pasture near by were 
hundreds of lambkins sporting and rollicking, some 
trying their skulls in the terrible encounter of black- 
man in the meadows ; while others seemed as though 
they were contesting the proprietorship of a little 
knoll, and soon as one had reached the top, others 



434 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

would butt it down again, and sometimes the whole 
hillock was covered with lambs tumbling and jump- 
in,2: over each other. You pass fields of cattle, horses 
and pigs, and others where laborers were tending the 
crops, and then drive up by the Fountains of Streams 
into Rolling ]\Ieads. 

As you enter the city it is about 4 o'clock, and 
the schools are just let out, for you hear the glad 
voices of hundreds of little children rending the air 
with their glad shouts, as they patter home to report 
their success to mother, whose encouraging smile 
they all hope to receive, except the truant, who hangs 
his head and mopes along, ashamed to face his moth- 
er's frown. 

Tiie influence of the schools at Fountains of 
Streams had spread into all the public schools far 
and wide for the last thirty years, and again intro- 
duced a respect for the Holy Scriptures, acknowl- 
edging their teachings as necessary to the proper 
formation of character. Xow, instead of a life of 
shame and crime receiving heroic applause and pub- 
lic laudation, vice and obscenity are severely censured, 
while all the citizens are taught and trained to seek 
each other's happiness and welfare, in leading an hon- 
est Christian Hfe. The prisons are empty, and law- 
yers ?nd hangmen, having no employment, have left 
the country, to ply their trade in a more ignorant 
and barbarous community. For it is evident, that 
the status of a country's civilization can be measured 
correctly, by the number of pettyfoggers and public 
execiuioners it requires. These are not needed. 



The End. 435 

where people are orderly and properly enlightened, 
and know how to adjust their difficulties among them- 
selves in peace. The unenlightened, ignorant and 
low characters, constitute the only soil upon which 
demagogues, constables, sheriffs and hangmen can 
thrive. The only time these weeds in human society 
stray off to the neighborhood of Rolling Meads, is 
during a state or presidential campaign, when candi- 
dates have their hooks richly bated to angle in the 
polluted public pools of the government. The base 
and the vile go up and down through the earth, seek- 
ing rest and finding none, desiring still to enter and 
find the same corrupt habitation whence they had 
gone out, and when they find these dwellings swept, 
garnished and free from their folly and baseness, they 
depart with rage and maledictions against all en- 
lightened Christian institutions, that have no use 
for these messengers of vice and moral corruption. 
Their cares are the greatest blessings in disguise, for 
they please a good conscience, and all friends of good 
society are glad, when the devotees of sin and criminal 
pursuits are gone. He that sitteth in the heavens 
shall laugh at their confusion and torment. 

Even reporters for newspapers are in hot water, 
because they cannot fill out their reports with the 
rich morsels of delicious delicacies of low personali- 
ties, grabbed at by every sensational editor; and to 
have some facts to report, they are forced to give the 
monotonous transactions of everyday occurrence, so 
that the pubHc papers are becoming stale, disgusting, 
unreliable and worthless ; and the great majority of 



436 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

subscribers would not take them at all for the read- 
ing matter, for all they are after is the paper on which 
they are printed. Papers and magazines containing 
smutty novels, or that revel in the exposition of im- 
moralities, clothed in the tempting attire of virtue's 
heroic garb, are abandoned, for the instructive read- 
ing of Christian books, sober facts, the biographies of 
great and good men and women, natural history and 
information for the various and profitable callings 
and pursuits of the private life of honest and decent 
men and women. Saloons, gambling dens and 'la- 
dies' parlors,' licensed by the government, are driven 
belter skelter out of the entire community ; like con- 
tagious pests they are not tolerated, although dema- 
gogues who profit by them, regard this course as re- 
bellion against the law-making power. Rebellion here, 
rebellion there, pests are pests, and leaches are vile 
bloodsuckers, deserving the utmost detestation of 
every true patriot. To reap a harvest of ill-gotten 
gain these base and insinuating pettyfoggers, in the 
form of law, smuggle into the community and license 
drunkenness, fornication and general debauchery. Re- 
bellion and opposition against such intolerable mon- 
sters of inhumanity, is obedience to a higher power 
and law, over which human senates have no author- 
itv or control. There is no more disgusting viper 
that crawls on the ground, than the vile dragons in 
human shape, enticing the people and imposing their 
nefarious laws, forcing recognition for no other pur- 
pose but to prey on the wealth and industries of a 



The End. 437 

virtuous people, and to scatter in return their conta- 
gion and indecency into the social ranks. 

We have a community before us whose citizens 
are under the influence and discipline of self-control, 
where each individual daily feeds on those ingredients 
of mental food necessary to develop and strengthen 
all his powers, and make him a truly free and inde- 
pendent creature, who know^s how to use his liberty 
as not abusing it. A naturalness and cheerfulness 
abounds among all classes and conditions, casting a 
joyous and free influence, like a charm, upon public 
and social life, which makes the present hour glide 
away pleasantly, and hope to cast the rays of joyful 
assurance onward into a glad future. 

The stately mansion and beautiful home above 
described, with its extensive fields, its lakes and 
streams, its rolling hills and vast forests, was the 
property and residence of Lillian Morven Mind, with 
a sketch of whose subsequent career for the last thirty- 
five years, this book and chapter ends. We notice 
first, that at the beginning of this period Lillian had 
increased her name one syllable. Her husband, the 
most prominent physician ot Rolling Meads, having 
succeeded in his father's extensive practice, had ac- 
cumulated an extensive fortune, which, together with 
Lillian's inheritance, enabled them to purchase all 
these lands, and to beautifv them with cottage homes 
for thrifty and honest laborers in shop and field. 
Lillian had chief control over the internal and do- 
mestic arrangements of the home, and lent her in- 



438 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

fluence to the happiness and weh'are of all her neigh- 
bors. 

Lillian did not long enjoy the sweets of domestic 
life alone. By and by five little cherubs came to par- 
take of her joys and sorrows : besides she also super- 
intended in the cottages and homes on her estate 
over a hundred orphans, who attended the schools at 
Fountains of Streams. This was a monument in all 
respects in harmony with her career, the last mile- 
stone, bearing evidence to future generations, that 
slie filled a great void in this dark world, and did not 
live in vain. She could never forget that she was left 
an orphan herself, and was solicitous all her days for 
the dear little ones, and knew what it was to be left 
homeless and parentless, alone in the cold world. 

She had these children distributed about equally 
among the families that lived in the beautiful cot- 
tages on her lands. Some of these families were 
occupied in tilling the soil, others were employed in 
various manufactories, and others in trades and mer- 
cantile piu'suits. She did not fancy the idea of crowd- 
ing children together in reeking dens of hundreds 
in a mass, as they do in many so-called orphan homes, 
where children are fed like pigs, and every depart- 
ment talks loud with the odor of the sty. These or- 
phans were distributed among some twenty respect- 
able Christian families, and mingled with their own 
children and enjoyed equal treatment and privileges. 

Thus they soon became useful to the families 
among whom they lived, and paid double for all their 
care and keeping. Those families were made happy 



The End. 439 

by their presence, and would have felt a great loss, 
had they suddenly been deprived of their cheerful 
little voices, their willing little hands and feet, and 
their bright, glowing faces. All the surrounding 
country people soon came to the conclusion, that no 
one was fit to superintend and take care of orphans, 
who was unable to put children into a condition, in 
which they could earn twofold the amount it costs to 
keep them well and in good health. It is the great- 
est folly and inhumanity, to try to bring up children 
without teaching them to work and earn something 
for themselves. This is one of the greatest joys of 
childhood, relished with the greatest satisfaction, and 
inheres in the mind of every child when properly di- 
rected from its birth, when it sees that it can earn 
something, and be of some use in the world. And 
those who do not know how to create this desire in 
the minds of children and to gratify it, are incompe- 
tent to exercise the authority of a parent over it. 
Little children naturally work harder at play, than most 
grown people do at their work. And the man or wo- 
man who is unable to turn the energies of children 
spent in play to profit, ought to be banished from the 
precincts of an orphanage. Children having had 
proper parents, need never be forced to work, they 
are by nature only too much disposed to be employed, 
and to do something useful is their fun and delight. 
The fresh air gives them vigor and health, and work 
hardens their muscles and makes them strong. Every 
child was put to such work it could easily perform, 
and was not kept too long at the same task. The 



440 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

lessons they haa in school were put to practical ac- 
count, so that both their minds and bodies were use- 
fully and profitably engaged. 

How delighted these children were when they 
saw Lillian approach. She knew them all by their 
names, and they came to meet her with cheery shouts 
and glee ; and every one was anxious to attract her 
notice in particular. A word from her lips made 
every child for whom it was intended feel hke a new 
soul, proud and joyful, for no mother ever possessed 
the heart of her own child more fully than Lillian 
did all the hearts of the little ones in the orphanage. 
The reputation of her wonderful control over chil- 
dren and people, extended to distant lands, and pa- 
rents from other states and countries visited Foun- 
tains of Streams to see this wonder, and were as- 
tonished to find that the half had not been told them. 
Lillian was the mother superior and inferior, the 
heart, soul and life of the orphanage, and the educa- 
tion of children throughout the entire community 
was under her patronage, influence and direction ; 
which in its entire compass was distinctive and posi- 
tive. Good and respectable people from near and' from 
far, who visited this orphanage, were heard without 
exception to express the sentiment among themselves : 
"T wish our children were as hearty, so polite and 
kind, so cheerful and good natured as these children 
are. I did not know before how much depends upon 
raising a child. I see now that everything depends 
upon it. Start the child right from its mother's lap. 



The End. 441 

keep it on the right way, and the character is estab- 
Hshed for Hfe." 

Lilhan's rambles with those children into the old 
forests and rolling meads, where some would go 
fishing along the streams and little lakes, and others 
would stroll through the rolling hills and beautiful 
fields on a bright summer's day; her gathering them 
together in some shady nook under the grand old 
trees, or at the foot of the hills by the side of the 
stream or the lake, and instructing them on some 
subject of natural history, or lessons of virtue and 
exercises in the melodious songs of Zion, national 
and social songs accompanied with the guitar and 
the flute, until the woods rang and the hills reverber- 
ated with the happy voices of children ; was an en- 
chantment of joyous raptures, as though the fairies 
of the olden time were playing their pranks upon the 
earth again, with all the fancies of a ''Midsummer 
Night's Dream." Then away they went, some at 
one game, others at another, or gathering around 
their fairy queen, she led them out o'er hill and dale 
gathering shells and flowers, arrow heads and relics 
of the mound builders. How they enjoyed their pic- 
nic of good and solid food, seated around upon one 
of these mounds that lay in the cool green glade, 
amidst the mighty monsters that stretched their arms 
upwards into the blue sky ! 

When such an outing of the children became 
known in the neighborhood previously, the people 
would assemble in multitudes to enjoy the delightful 
day, the beautiful music and the children's jubilee.. 



442 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

Here all the tender sympathies and feelings of human 
nature were aroused, until with tears in their eyes 
they came and urged their ofterings for the support 
of the orphanage. 

In the home among the children Lillian was a 
(|ueen par excellence, and ruled in their hearts by 
word and example with good and lasting results. She 
was the "good mother"' or ''kind mama" of them all. 
There is no such thing on earth as a "sweet home'' 
without a mother, for she alone can make it sweet 
and attractive, though it be ever so humble. She is 
the mainspring and fountain of all sweet felicitv there. 
Here she moves the lever that rules the world. A 
mother's love I — let an angel describe it, for here hu- 
man eftorts must fail. It soothes children and youth, 
and sweetens manhood and old age. It forms im- 
pressions that endure, that rule and govern society. 
Those who guide the first tottering steps and the first 
faint glimmer of child thought, wield an influence 
that guides and guards the destinies of the world. 

Lillian was busily engaged in attending to the 
dailv wants of her many children, in making their 
homes pleasant, in ministering to the sick, the 
woimded and the dying. She understood their little 
fancies, and seemed to penetrate the recesses of their 
thoughts, their longings which they themselves were 
often too backward to reveal. She comjX)sed songs 
for them and taught them music and singing, pro- 
verbs and precepts, and everything of good report 
she made contribute to af¥ord instruction and amuse- 
ment, and to occupy their time. The music of her 



The End. 443 

voice joined to words of inspiration, enchanting the 
soul, exciting love to God, home and heaven, elevated 
their minds and purified their hearts. What an at- 
traction to home is music ! Here the children were 
taught to play every instrument, and to join the cho- 
rus of their voices to cheer, to bind and cement all 
the ties of friendship and home. How pleasant is 
such a home ! Here the flowers smell sweetest, the 
birds sing nicest, and the bread that mother bakes 
is best. Here music exercises its sweetest charms. 
How blessed at home with God and loved ones, to 
while away and consecrate our evening devotions with 
music! It keeps the boys and girls from straying 
into forbidden paths. You can also make home 
pleasant for them by other innocent amusements, at- 
tractive to all alike, by which many wise lessons may 
be taught that will exercise a good and wholesome 
impression that will last for life. Our homes must 
be provided with the means of recreation and relax- 
ation. What a lasting impression dees an interesting 
game or puzzle, an instructive book, or a sweet song, 
played, read or sung in concert, make upon the hearts 
gathered around home's altars and its fires ' This 
unites their hearts, binds their affections for each other 
closer, and forms an attachment for home that can- 
not De broken. 

Here the little orphan children gathered together 
•with glad and cheerful hearts. Such homes with their 
inm.ates reflect true Christian life and instruction, and 
point upward to the golden city. For here cherished 
ties of love and kindred welcome vou home, heaven 



444 Fountains of Streams and Public Schools. 

opens its portals above you, and the angels of Jacob 
hover over your head. Here is Bethel, and the very 
house of God ! 

We have now come to the parting of the ways. 
It is evening, and the day is far spent. My heart 
pleads a friendly lodging for the night. ]Memory, all 
aweary, strikes a tender chord, and asks a soothing 
flow. Faithful to her companions of other days, 
memory bids me spread over them the green curtains 
of the virgin spring, studded with thousands of fra- 
grant blossoms. Flow gently sweet river, where thy 
arms are folded on the bosom of thy lakes, and let 
the sun smile brightly upon thy green banks. ]My 
boat has struck the shore. I will not moor it here. 
I shall give it to the winds and the storms. It shall 
have a wide range of liberty now. It shall be free 
to splash and toss, to sport with the winds, the storms 
and the waves, on the beautiful bosom of the bright 
blue lakes at Foimtains of Streams. Let the little 
children have it. 

I am now returned to the mansions of childhood, 
where my father and mother as before, my brothers 
and sisters of other days, some scattered and others 
sleeping in the dust, all come home to me again at 
eventide. The journey was long and wearysome, and 
we were almost too late. For it was the evening of 
a bitter day, nor did joy come to us in the morning. 
All the little orphan children were gathered round 
the dying bed of Lillian, weeping and sobbing their 
little hearts away. They kissed and patted her cold 
cheeks, and stroked her brow and flowing hair with 



The End. 445 

their little hands, and every one came to hear her call 
their names once more, and to receive her parting 
words. They called her pet names as they were wont 
to do at their jubilees, and joined their prayers with 
hers. 

It was her request that all the little children 
should sing the pieces she marked for them to sing, 
while she was taking her last farewells from her happy 
family. She was tired, and her eyes were weary, 
while the voices of children like a chorus of angels 
fell upon the dying and departing soul like far-ofl 
music over moon-lit waters. There she lay sweetly 
smiling and laughing to herself, and the music was 
srrowing fainter and fainter, and the children were 
singing amidst their tears and sobs, while she was 
ending all her earthly cares and joys in music. She 
told them to walk in the light, and the light would 
shine upon their path, and that Christ would be their 
light. After repeating her last words : "To live is 
Christ, to die is gain," she laid her head aside and 
breathed her happy soul away, while the children were 
singing, and their sweet little voices were creeping 
and stealing faintly into her ears with the words of 
her favorite hymn : "Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me." 



MOV 15 1901 



